


Licking an Orchid

by splice (stear)



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Amy Owns Everything, Angst, Blood and Violence, Boys In Love, Dark, Drug Abuse, Drug Use, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Frotting, Gay Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Gore, Mobians (Sonic the Hedgehog), Post-Apocalypse, References to Depression, Romantic Angst, Self-Loathing, Skinny Dipping, Smut, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26916247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stear/pseuds/splice
Summary: Set in a gloomy future where Eggman took over Mobius, post Forces ending. Sonic and his friends struggle to cope with their bleak surroundings.Shadow notices Sonic's strange behavior and realizes that his friend's situation might be much worse than he first assumed. Sonic's family and friends embark on a journey to rescue and protect the hero who once used to save their world. In the process, Shadow finally ends up acknowledging the emotions he used to reject in the past towards the blue hedgehog.Sonic/Shadow gay fic.Warnings: Graphic description of consensual hard drugs administration and use, depression, violence, and mild gore.
Relationships: Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 13
Kudos: 67





	1. Shadow

  
Steel permeated the sky wherever the eye met the horizon. Here and there, grotesque sky-scrapers punctured it, outcries seldom echoing through, briefly muted, from within. Somewhere else, remote, a softened sun-like globe cast a reddish halo behind threatening dust storm curtains afar, the azure captured in perpetual eclipse. 

North, a rusty Ferris wheel moved slowly, pushed by an unknown and mysterious force. Was it the wind, or was it something else? Nevertheless, it's cycles produced periodic sinister metallic sounds, scattering in the distance.

Below were some unkempt barracks with askew doors, improper housing for some runaway mobians, from few that remained. Before one such door stood a blue mobian hedgehog, face obstructed by a gas mask, with a patched backpack, worn-out jeans, an untidy shirt, an old jacket. From his stature, he must have been in his mid 20's.

He forced a few insistent knocks at the door after trying it and observing that it won't budge. 

"Who is it? What do you want?" demanded an irritable voice behind the metal door, as though an interruption from a demanding job occurred.

"It's me, Shads! Came to see you and get you some cans o' food... " the blue hedgehog hesitated a bit, then continued more shyly: "And... well... some other stuff I got from Gadget..."

"Can't it wait?! You know I'm mourning the loss of my limb and, frankly, I am not in the mood!" responded Shadow, from within his place. 

"You're seriously just going to leave me outside?! It's friggin' cold and, besides, you didn't lose any limb, just three fingers. You've got seven more to go!"

In the instant Shadow opened the door, Sonic swiftly budged in and shut the door behind him. He quickly removed the gas mask and placed it on a wooden table, along with his backpack.

"Ah! Fresh air!" exclaimed the blue hedgehog, yawning, and stretching.

The room had a few very dusty windows with wooden frames that barely illuminated its contents: an untidy mattress, messy cracked walls, and a table. On the table, there were a few pieces of cutlery, a lantern, a few batteries that seemed almost worn-out, knives, two guns, a bunch of shells, and clothing. Somewhere else, in the opposite corner, a small basin, probably used for washing, and a few flasks of water. The atmosphere was chilly and damp.

The room was moderately spacious, at least.

Sonic sat on one corner of the mattress while Shadow stood before him, looking down, expression straight and visibly frustrated. His fur, or at least the patches that rose from his clothes, were unkempt and going in all permissible directions. There was a looming ambiance of distraught.

"Fuck you!" exclaimed Shadow.

"For what?" asked Sonic.

"For earlier... If you knew how much it hurt, you wouldn't dare joke about it."

"Man, you're so cranky! Thought you said you were pain-resistant..."

"I had my fingers severed, hedgehog! I barely used to get any bruises..."

Shadow got gravely wounded in a previous unhappy fight after he deemed wise to adventure into a Metropolis factory alone to seek some supplies since he was running short. Moreover, he had no intention of borrowing more cans or medicine from Gadget since they had quite a severe quarrel recently. Not to mention that such a visit would mean meeting Zero again, causing great displeasure for the ebony hedgehog.

On his way, badnicks ambushed him, a far greater number than he had first anticipated. Since he lost his chaos emerald to Eggman's terrible contraption, his capabilities and gimmicks functioned much slower and demanded more planning, unsuitable amid unexpected battle. With a damned misplaced strike, three of his fingers got promptly confiscated by one advanced grotesque automation. Shadow had never seen that type of badnick before.

Sonic looked closer at Shadow's arm. He was wearing an old sweater, its sleeves covering his injured hand, and cargo military pants. Sonic reached out and took Shadow's arm in his hand, without hesitation or asking for permission, attempting to uncover the damage when Shadow suddenly snapped and pulled away.

"Personal space, hedgehog," said Shadow with an austere attitude.

"C'mon, Shads. I have to know how bad it is! You sure you're not gonna get an infection?"

"No. I am properly trained in the field of medical care, much more than you are. Further complications are unlikely at this point."

"Shadow! I am worried! You can let me take a small look, just to see what's it like! I'll get to see your hand, at some point, so why bother?"

"Why do you insist so much?"

"Why?! Because I care about you!" yelled Sonic.

"Well, unfortunately, your pity for me won't make my appendages miraculously grow anew."

A moment of silence interrupted the conversation's pace. Sonic's glare molded into one of familiar sadness, eyes casting a veiled gloom.

"Ok... Sorry for bothering you, then. We can drop it then if that's what you'd like..." said Sonic quietly and dully while looking down at the floor as if dozing off to someplace away, someplace better. Shadow looked at him, expecting a comeback but was disheartened when a strained apology with an undertone of hopelessness came. He frowned at the hedgehog.

"There we go. He's doing it again." Shadow thought.

Sonic's state was deteriorating over time, Shadow deemed, and it became apparent now more than ever. When the chaos emeralds vanished, and the Black Sun emerged in the sky, a mysterious contraption invented by Eggman, Sonic's days were ones of hope and fearlessness. He promptly lay the foundation of a completely new and courageous Resistance, one that would be able to heroically stand against Eggman's horrific attempts to destabilize the world. Although the war with Infinite had already shaken the structure of Mobious a year ago, a sentiment of optimism prevailed. All thanks to Sonic's proactive, unifying bearing and his leadership skills, a shimmer of hope seeped through the nebulous heights of the future. The new Resistance fought in many battles and, in a few months, quickly decimated the enemy factories. 

It was then that a series of seemingly unlinked incidents befell their soldiers and researchers. Weapons' would misfire, and some stopped working altogether. Chaos energy started behaving inexplicably and against their warriors, pushing them back and hurting them. Whole resistance bases would collapse under the exponentially increasing number of automata who seemed to spawn from nowhere and were going off to nowhere. 

For Shadow, one of the worst situations was when, during one of GUN's missions, he had to pull Sonic himself out from such a breakdown.

* * *

Sonic was fighting at one outskirt base, near the border of Metropolis City. Days would pass without an issue, and the conquest for the near factories was going splendidly. The mobians prowess, their advanced military know-how, their superior weaponry, carefully built upon overcoming grave past military challenges, immediately paid off. Soon enough, the Resistance swiftly destroyed three of the four machine factories. 

However, the celebrations were cut short. Sonic, and his teammates, almost 30 in total, new properly trained recruits, found themselves within the embraces of an ambush at their base. They quickly sounded off the alarms.

Attempting to withstand the coming waves of attacks, they found their weapons faulty. Direct physical combat quickly proved to be unrewarding. Guns no longer worked, and missiles wouldn't fire. One of the soldiers promptly contacted GUN requesting an urgent rescue mission as a last resort.

Sonic was fighting off one particular giant automaton outside the base when soon enough, communication between him and his team grew silent. Unable to finish the monstrosity off, he fell back to their base.

The hedgehog entered the main room with great anxiety and froze in terror at the sight. Most of his teammates were dead, some having had their limbs partially replaced with machinery. Never having seen such cruelty and gore, especially directed towards mobians he knew and cherished, he immediately broke into tears and violent trembling.

Sonic witnessed one of his team members, still alive but partially transformed, a red fox, attempting to shoot himself repeatedly with a gun in the head while howling and sobbing, but to no avail, as the weapon wouldn't fire. Upon seeing the hedgehog, the red fox started pleading to have his life taken, despairingly dreading to become fully converted into one of Eggman's cyborgs and mindless husks. He threw both of his robotic arms at his leader as if asking for forgiveness.

"Please, end me! Just end me, Sonic! Please! NO MORE!"

A fathomless terror struck Sonic and his mind was shattered into tiny pieces. He shouted from the bottom of his lungs and aimlessly ran around, seeing nothing but black, smelling nothing but blood and hurt around himself, yearning to awaken from the horror, wanting his alarm clock to sound, to ignore it, and finally, for an annoying Tails to come in his room and to force him to wake up.

After hours of racing to nowhere, hunting for nothing, he finally sat in a corner, contorted in a fetal position, and sobbed until he remained without tears, his eyes strained to the point of exhaustion, in anticipation of his demise.

* * *

Shadow and GUN agents rescued only four survivors, including Sonic. When they arrived at the headquarters, Knuckles, Amy, and Tails attempted to interrogate Sonic in an attempt to find what had happened and what kind of gimmick did Eggman use to defeat them so rapidly and effortlessly. After a few uncomfortable hours, all of their efforts proved to be in vain, as Sonic refused to talk with anyone, even to his dearest friends, coming with their most endearing pleadings.

He sat on a hospital bed, completely silent, trembling and shivering, with exophthalmic reddish and teary eyes, but unable to cry, with hands wrapped around himself. He looked anemic and frail, ready to collapse altogether at any moment. Their friends were crushed to see what he had become in the span of a night's battle. For a whole week, psychiatrists and psychologists tried to break through, to make Sonic talk or at least to eat and drink properly. Nothing appeared to work. 

It was then that one late afternoon Shadow paid him a visit. He went into the headquarters kitchen and made the Sonic a soup, then moved towards his room.

* * *

Shadow looked at Sonic, who was sitting quietly in the hospital bed, in an otherwise empty and white room, with a bowl of hot soup in his hands. The sterile atmosphere, the bright lights, the disquieting air, as if foreshadowing something terrible, reminded Shadow of his old days in the laboratories, and he felt nauseated and muddy.

"How are they expecting Sonic to recover!?" he asked himself, silently. "They should have taken him to a forest, to a park, or something of the sort, not make him stay in this awful sinister white rat cage!" he continued to think.

Shadow put the bowl of soup on a counter. He came up to Sonic and observed him. He was looking someplace off, in the distance, alert but not present in the moment. He looked disheveled and in a state certainly novel for his previously boisterous and talkative friend. A slight sentiment of sorry crept up behind his neck. Was it pity? Was it empathy?

Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to protect the blue hedgehog, to pull him out of this miserable psychological predicament, and to carry him somewhere else, somewhere safe. This distinct and unusual feeling arose in him, with a particular familiarity attached to it. He must have had this sentiment before, perhaps towards Maria? But was it the same sentiment? Shadow couldn't say. 

He never thought he'd feel this way towards Sonic. He never expected Sonic would need someone to fell this way towards him. And how should Shadow express this sensation to his friend? Shadow couldn't say.

Such was reality, and such were Shadow's tremors in the present. "How strangely war changes people!" he exclaimed to himself and brought his inner perplexion to a halt. After all, his visit was about Sonic and not himself.

"Hedgehog, what's going on with you? Are you willing to say something anytime soon? Everyone's already up in the air with you." Shadow spoke, with a frown cemented on his face.

No response came, although Sonic's eyes widened. He looked at Shadow as if he had never seen that mobian before.

"Anything?" persevered Shadow.

Shadow moved around the room, pacing back and forth as if Sonic was under criminal interrogation, trying to concoct a plan, a method of getting the words out of his tormented friend. After a while, Shadow stopped and yelled at him.

"Look, hedgehog, I'll assume you're hearing me, and you're not as braindead as you pretend to be! Listen closely, the whole fucking world is burning around you, and we're wasting time making you talk and perform basic functions! You're making us lose precious people on you and your fits! You're making everyone concerned, and you're leaving a fucking huge whole in our struggles, as I'm speaking!"

Seeing that Sonic wouldn't react in any way, Shadow went to him and violently pulled him by the shoulders. 

"Are you going to SNAP out of it or make US ALL GO to HELL WITH YOU?!" Shadow snapped.

Shadow felt an unexpected and powerful punch in the stomach, for which he could not prepare in time, followed by rapid kicks and punches in his chest. Shadow quickly gasped for air as Sonic immediately raised from his place. Similar to a madman, he started violently punching and kicking at Shadow, who, in an attempt to defend himself from the unexplainable and unpredicted attack, pinned Sonic to the wall, with all of his might, making a slight hole into it. 

Once locked in this position, Sonic broke down into a sob, crying and screeching, and then brought his ungloved hands around Shadow's back, badly ripping holes in his blue GUN uniform, claws now digging through his fur and skin, drawing blood and leaving marks, spinning out of control. Shadow clenched his teeth at the pain in his back. 

It hurt a lot.

Something overcame Shadow. Instead of pushing his enraged friend away, he automatically wrapped his arms around the blue hedgehog, holding him tight, almost as if trying to break his bones, pulling his head into his chest, almost as if suffocating him. He said nothing and waited in that position, still clenching his teeth from the pain, as Sonic continued to scratch and loudly sob, still inflicting injuries on his friend with his uncut claws.

After a while, Sonic's sob quieted. He felt Shadow's tight embrace get to him. For a while, he felt his guilt, rage, and other cold feelings melt away in the painful hug. He found his head nestling in Shadow's chest, still crying quietly, and the embrace with his friend loosening. He tried to speak, with much difficulty, between his tears. His violent scratching stopped, pulling his hands away, realizing he had Shadow's blood on his arms.

"Don't let go, Shads..." he pleaded through tears.

Shadow's clench turned into a sweet hug. Sonic pushed his muzzle in his friend's chest even harder as Shadow's squeeze turned into delicate rubs on the blue hedgehog's back.

"I wasn't going to, Sonic. I was acting severely to pull you out somehow. I knew I had a better chance than just being soft with you. I know you, hedgehog." said Shadow softly and with pauses between each sentence.

"Why did you save me, Shadow? Why?! You idiot! You FUCKING idiot, Shadow! I should have been left to die with them! I failed them! I only fucking wish to DISAPPEAR!" yelled Sonic, his words coming out muffled, from within his friend's chest.

"Hush, Sonic... Listen carefully to me. Know that nobody died because of you. War is war. Some mobians are going to lose their lives. Do you know how many lives I've seen perish?" spoke Shadow quietly.

He stopped, waiting for something further feedback from his mobian friend, although nothing came.

A sudden panic overwhelmed Shadow. They both stood like that, secured in the embrace, seeming as if with them passed the hours, the minutes, the days. Suddenly, Shadow knew that he had tapped into a force more potent, more ruthless, more limitless than the winds, the forests, the vulcanoes, and the skies. He held his suffering friend in his arms transfixed by this quaint sentiment. It was awful. It was amazing. At that moment, Shadow felt both incredible and wonderful, shameful, and hopeless at the same time.

When he finally got control over himself, he didn't know what time it was. He felt like it must have been years.

"You can't protect everyone in the world. All we have to do is look forward to the future, for those still alive. Am I not right?" spoke Shadow in the same soft tone as before, continuing to rub the hedgehog's back.

"But, they went so horribly, Shads! They died so badly! I cannot get it outta my mind! One even begged me to... It hurts so much, that I want to have gone with them!"

"Well, try for all of us! You're going to do that, right?! Promise me you'll do that?! Yes?!" Shadow shouted.

Slowly, Shadow pushed away Sonic from his embrace and looked into his messy eyes with a questioning and desperate look, while still holding him by the arm.

"Ok..." said Sonic, lightly muted.

Shadow let Sonic go.


	2. Plead

  
Sonic looked up to see Shadow bring his wounded hand forward, before his eyes, completely exposed.

His middle, ring, and index finger were missing altogether, bandaged stubs replacing them. Sonic's eyes widened in panic for what he was seeing. He delicately moved his hands on Shadow's, gently palpating it, trying to hide the sadness he suddenly felt for his friend, as he knew Shadow wouldn't accept it. 

"Well, are you satisfied now, hedgehog?" asked Shadow.

"No."

"No?"

Sonic frowned crudely at the ebony hedgehog, turning his eyes from his hand to him.

"Shads, this is bad. Really, really bad... Goddammit, Shads! What the heck made you think it was a good idea to go alone?! You know I would have come with you!" yelled Sonic.

"And? Maybe if you came with me, YOU would have lost your fingers and not me."

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't want to endanger me... Cause' I'm really not buying that."

"Sonic. I am serious. I did not want to bother you."

"Bother me? You've always been so eager to refuse my help, all the time. We're friends, right? Friends help each other, for fuck's sake!"

"Well, Sonic, I didn't think this was something I needed help with."

Shadow retracted his hand from Sonic's. The blue hedgehog sighed. 

"It hurts really bad?" asked Sonic, with his expression aloof.

"Well, what makes you think that? Did something particular give it away?" inquired Shadow, sneeringly.

"I brought me some painkillers. You should get them. Maybe you'll feel better."

"How's the wolf?" asked Shadow, in an attempt to change the subject.

"Gadget? Looking good! Went to him this morning. He got us some food from a previous venture. He went to the outskirts of Metropolis yesterday and is planning on going again tonight. Pretty good loot. Maybe we should go with him once." responded Sonic, his previous enthusiastic attitude returning to him for a while.

"Good on him. Did he go alone?"

"No. He took Zero with him."

"So, he's still living with that little shit?"

"Shads... please? Can you make an effort and drop it? I'm not amazed by Zero either but, Gadget's our friend. He's helped us a lot and, now, he needs us, too! Who cares who's done what in the past? We're all fucked now beyond belief, anyway..." pleaded Sonic.

"That's why I want the best for him, hedgehog. Infinite's a piece of shit. Sadly, we need to make him very aware of this fact."

"Shads, he was disturbed when he did those things! Like y- Ok! Let's drop it!" Sonic concluded.

A few moments passed and Shadow was fidgeting, moving around, trying to get the pain from his limb outside his mind and gone. Sonic was dozing off, tired as if he just arrived from a ferocious campaign that he had lost. The ebony hedgehog went up to him and lightly punched his shoulder.

Once unceremoniously pulled out from his daydreaming trance, the blue hedgehog looked at Shadow with a questioning frown. His inquisitive and annoyed expression meant to say something along the lines of "ouch, what was that for?".

"Anyhow, thanks for reminding me. That's what I needed now. It was vital." continued Shadow.

"What?"

"That we're fucked beyond belief. You used to be so much more optimistic when you were younger. You're becoming more and more hopeless as days pass. It's fucking fantastic. I abhor hearing you say things like that. You, out of all the fucking people in the world." complained Shadow.

Sonic's light expression seemed to fade away into a more somber one, uncharacteristic of his charismatic and easy-going nature. Finally, the blue hedgehog stood up and moved to the table to unpack the contents of his strained backpack.

"Well, I say it like it is, buddy! These shitty robots cover the whole world now," said Sonic as he briefly turned to Shadow for a moment and then turning back.

After a while, his anger continued to boil within him, and Sonic resumed his diatribe.

"Whole continents look like complete shitholes! I haven't seen the sun for two years! I may be an idiot, but I'm not a cretin, and I don't think we have the upper hand in this fight, bud. Do you, Shads?! Does it look like the odds are in our favor here, buddy?" he continued.

Sonic then began enumerating the contents of the cans, taking them one by one and placing them neatly on the table, in line. "This is cabbage with pork, and this is tuna..."

"Being hopeful and being an idiot have nothing to do with each other. You taught me that." interrupted Shadow. "And it was not straightforward to change my mind. Having a bit of optimism regarding the future goes a long way. It does not make you improper or stupid. These are your words, hedgehog. Besides, in the past, odds were never in our favor, and we always prevailed..." he continued, looking somewhat stern and somewhat disappointed.

Sonic didn't say anything, continuing to arrange the contents of the backpack on the table, quietly this instance. As this was happening, Shadow took a glimpse inside Sonic's bag and saw a peculiar white tube. 

"Hey, what's this?!" Shadow pushed Sonic aside, forcefully. With swift and coordinated movements, he snatched his bag altogether. Desperate with curiosity and suspicion, he positioned the backpack upside down, letting all of its contents fall freely on the ground.

Shadow's eyes opened as wide as they possibly could. To his terror, he stared frozen at the kit of syringes, a few plastic small bags containing powder in them, and the flask of Vitamin C pills three-quarters full.

"What the fuck?! What the absolute FUCK, Sonic!? You've been using this shit?! Fuck- " Shadow yelled and then instinctively placed his hand behind his mouth in shock. He even omitted that it was missing a few fingers.

A profound terror struck Sonic. He stood there, stuck, arms opened as if asking what had occurred in the immediate split second, his whole world quickly collapsing before his eyes. Very soon, his horror transformed into unfathomable anger. 

"What's the matter, Shads?! You don't like the 'optics' of what you're seeing?! The 'vibe' it's giving you!? You find it too 'unoptimistic' for a hero like me?! Well, guess what?! I ain't no fucking hero! Never been! Just a fucking piece of shit like everybody! Do you think it's too fucking 'hopeless' for my standards?! Well, then, too fucking bad! You got me! Fuck you! Fuck you so much, buddy!" shouted Sonic, enraged, his last words turning almost into screeches. 

Shadow had never even thought Sonic could display such an expression of unfiltered rage towards him, even in his nightmares. Sonic's instant shift from a caring and kind mobian into a wild animal perplexed him. 

He remained speechless before Sonic.

Sonic's anger dwindled upon seeing Shadow looking at him as if the blue hedgehog had just died in a meaningless accident. Impassive, he kneeled down and meticulously placed all of his belongings in his bag from the ground, one by one, careful not to miss anything. Shadow stood there and just watched. After the initial shock succumbed, a thought came into his mind. He had to help Sonic, no matter the cost.

"Figures..." spoke Sonic quietly. He placed his backpack on his back, and, in a spur, he turned to grab his gas-mask and leave. "Anyway, enjoy your stocks, Shads..." continued the hedgehog.

It was then that Sonic felt a hand grip his arm, with such force it might cause bleeding. It was then that he felt a trembling breath right behind his neck, Shadow coming closer as if to pull him into a full embrace.

"Wait, wait a minute Sonic! Stay a little bit. Just a minute, and then you can leave. You can even shoot up one of your things if it makes you feel - better. More - at peace. I seriously don't mind. I've seen much worse things." said Shadow in a hushed voice, with all his might attempting to hide his despair. Sonic's life depended on making him talk.

Shadow wanted to catch a glimpse of Sonic, of something, to hold onto anything, even to lure him in with the damned devil.

Sonic turned back, confused, unsure of what to do.

"Look, Sonic, don't go like this... We haven't spoken in such a long time..." continued Shadow to plead. The ebony hedgehog had never begged to someone for something. He was determined to lower himself to the hedgehog, as much as Sonic wanted. Give him anything, just to make him stay and talk.

"Shads... I don't - I don't want you to see me that miserable..."

"You're not miserable! You're my friend! No matter what! I'll have you at your best and your worst! You're one of the best things that happened in my life! Just hang out a bit with me more..." Shadow was tearing up. He couldn't lie to himself any much longer. He was no longer playing an act. The act was playing him, unable to control, and bottle up his emotions anymore. He cannot allow Sonic to go. He was willing to sacrifice anything, his dignity, his cool and uncaring facade, and even his own life.

Sonic exhaled deeply. He put down his bag again on the table. 


	3. Inject

Sonic stood before the table, took a spoon, pulled out a bag of powder, and added it's contents to the spoon. He searched for a syringe in his bag and unwrapped its package.

"Hey, got any clean water?" he asked Shadow.

Shadow looked at him, attempting to feign a lack of concern that his friend who was, so casually, preparing for himself a hit of what Shadow thought to be Heroin. 

Shadow began desperately justifying the circumstance that he was in, within his mind. He was bound to comply with Sonic's utterly asinine intentions, or otherwise, Sonic would leave to God knows where to do God knows what. Possibly to engage in other more perilous affairs, if such situations were even possible, as Shadow couldn't conjure up anything at the moment. Shadow hoped that the substance was, at least, simply Heroin in safe doses and not something that would spontaneously kill Sonic.

Shadow was hardly able to bottle up his anxieties and expectations. He was under an extraordinary adrenaline rush, multiple questions gushing into his mind simultaneously. He felt as if he was during one of his old rescue GUN missions.

What would he do if Sonic poisoned himself? Although Shadow had select medical competence, he was not so properly versed in the field of pharmacology. He had no antidotes around his house, no fancy dialysis machinery, nothing to operate directly on a mobian's blood or internal organs. Sonic would be completely helpless. 

Where did he get this stuff? The syringes looked new, so at least there's that bit of concern away. But what about the substance itself? Where did he get it, and how would he make sure it wasn't spiced with something? Was the dealer a trusted person?

What if he overdosed? How did he guarantee the dose was safe and not lethal?

Is Sonic a complete idiot? Yes, quite certainly, and Shadow was not helping his condition at all.

Shadow panicked.

"Hey, Shads, got any drinkable water or not?"

Shadow threw Sonic a flask of water without saying anything.

Sonic pulled some water into the syringe, squirted it into the spoon, took a tablet of Vitamin C, ripped it in half with his hands, squashed it with the spoon, and put its powder into it. Then, he took a lighter and made a flame beneath the spoon, waiting for the whole substances to merge in the heat.

Shadow watched as the spoon grew burnt. It was the first time he observed someone cook Heroin. It was much less sensational than movie directors would like their audiences to believe, he thought.

"Hey, hedgehog. Are you sure this is safe? Have you ever done this before?" asked Shadow, feigning that the situation was under control on his side.

"Yup, no worries. I've been doing this for two months. The guy who gave me this to me was a doctor."

"Was?"

"Well, he died in the war."

"Who is this doctor, exactly?"

"Dunno, tall tiger. Forgot his name. Gave me this when I got pretty fucked up in a battle when I almost stepped on the bomb. Was hurting bad and the doc had no morphine, but he had this. Works well as a painkiller, too, I think. Said this was diamorphine which is kinda like morphine. Liked it and asked for more."

"Oh my God, what the fuck?!" thought Shadow to himself.

Shadow believed that he was dreaming. Or that he was dreaming that he was hallucinating. Or that, when he lost his fingers, he got inexplicably teleported straight to a different universe. Or that someone kidnapped Sonic, and the mobian before him is, as a matter of fact, a robot or, perhaps, one of Inifinite's illusions. He simply refused to believe the situation presented by reality. There had to be another explanation for this, a more coherent and apt one.

"Kept storming his office now and then to take more. He had them in a locked box which I broke while looking for bandages and stuff. His office is near the Ferris wheel. You know that wheel that moves? I have no idea how since it isn't powered or anything." continued Sonic, nonchalantly. 

Shadow noticed how much Sonic was speaking now compared to earlier. It had to be the expectation of the hit. 

Sonic took a gauze from his bag. Then, he pulled the liquid from the spoon in the syringe through the gauze. He pulled the ankle of his shirt up to inject himself.

"Wait, hedgehog!" Shadow yelled.

"What?!" Sonic jumped.

"Let me do it to you. I am more versed in performing injections than you are."

"Shads, I told you before! I've done it before..."

"You could damage your veins if you're not careful. Seeing them properly through the fur is not trivial," explained Shadow.

Sonic shrugged and gave the syringe to Shadow.

Shadow looked at it. He was attempting to buy himself more time for thinking and for planning his next steps at this point.

He conjured up a plan. He would throw the syringe away and quickly debilitate Sonic, tie him up somewhere, then throw all of his drugs away. However, given his current state, he wouldn't be capable of withstanding a confrontation with Sonic, especially considering that the blue hedgehog would instantly become utterly enraged. Obviously, Sonic was already on the edge and, perhaps, foreseeing such a move. 

Moreover, what will he do next? Keep Sonic in a cage for the rest of his life? Next, Shadow didn't know where Sonic kept his stash. Was it just an abandoned office, somewhere near the Ferris wheel? Where exactly would that be? What, even, could he use in his room to seize Sonic? And for what ends?

Shadow's mind was transforming into mayhem. After a few moments, he finally gave up and hoped that Sonic wasn't lying, that the substance was clean, that the dose was proper, that the injection was not lethal.

Shadow went for it. Sonic felt a sting, and that was it.

Soon enough, Sonic lay on the mattress, looking at the ceiling, with a calm and relaxed smile plastered on his muzzle. Shadow expected a different, more uncanny reaction from the high hedgehog, but no such thing came.

"So, how are you feeling?" asked Shadow

Sonic turned from the ceiling to face his friend, standing on his right arm. 

"Good! See? Nothing horrible happened."


	4. Monster

Shadow turned to Sonic and sat on the mattress next to him. He looked at the laying hedgehog, observing his visibly aloof and serene state. After the incident, when Shadow saved him from that base's wreck, he had never seen him looking so peaceful.

"What exactly do you feel when you take this drug?" asked Shadow, unnaturally slowly, serious, as if speaking to someone coming from a foreign country.

Sonic thought a bit before answering, or at least seem to think about something.

"I feel good, Shads... Like before the war. Like when I was looking at the sun, and the sky was clear, and I was smelling the nature in spring. Like a walk in the park... Like the world is good again... It ain't really easy explaining how much the world before mattered to me."

Shadow didn't know what to say. He looked somewhere, in the distance. Sonic continued to speak.

"Now everything's went to shit... Amy, Tails, Knuckles are all isolating each other from me. They're all trying to cope with it, alone. You too. When I take it, it's as if the clock turns back and I see all of you again, as you were before."

A deep sorrow hit Shadow. He, too, has struggled to cope by avoiding reality for what it is, by denying their state. Yet for Sonic, it was much worse. Always bringing back the happy moments before, always reliving them, and then waking up to see everything in the world so consumed. The landscapes, the cities, and, more importantly, their relationships. The same suffering reoccurring, unable to grow old and accepted, immortal.

"It's not your fault, hedgehog. Everyone's trying to adapt to their new conditions until better ones arise. They're trying to move on. It's more painful if you keep reliving something in the past that is present no longer..."

"Shads?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think we're ever going to get out of this shit... I forgot how to be that mobian, anymore... The mobian that thought like that." said Sonic smiling.

"I see. I'm so sorry to hear..." said Shadow quietly.

Were his eyes watering? When did Shadow become sentimental? In his past, he used to properly resist against more powerful emotional stimuli, yet seeing his friend so sincerely hopeless and peaceful at the same time made him feel as if Sonic had perished. Yet, he did not forget his initial goal. He would repair Sonic, by force if necessary.

"I think I upset you. I'm sorry. I talk shit when I'm on this" Sonic turned away to gaze at the ceiling, like before, facing away from his friend.

"No. It's not an issue. It just seemed a bit strange, coming from you. Although, if that's how you feel, then it's better to say it than to keep it bottling it inside of you."

"You have things like that? That you bottle inside of you?"

"Many things, yes."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. There are so many that I cannot think of one in particular."

Shadow moved his sighed somewhere else and started to fidget. The current conversation was making him down and uncomfortable. Although in the room, only Sonic was present, and although the hedgehog was high, he didn't like it when circumstances made him seem defenseless.

"Shads?"

"Yes?"

"Remember when you pulled me out of that base, and everyone in my command died. It was awful, and I did not speak for weeks."

"Yes. Although, I recall it was just a few days, not whole weeks."

Part of Shadow dearly hoped Sonic wouldn't bring that up, and another part of him wanted to relieve those painful moments in vivid detail.

"You came into my room, and we fought. Remember? Remember how you pulled me into a hug, and I was crying?" said Sonic

He brought it up.

"Yes. What about it?" said Shadow anxiously, trying to keep up his calm and composed demeanor.

"Felt so good, Shads! You have no idea how good that felt. It feels like I feel now when I'm on it. Like a warm blanket covering me in the winter. Didn't know you could do that to somebody. Really happy that you did that. Thank you, Shads! Never got a chance to, back then! I'm sorry for scratching your back so badly."

Shadow gulped. "I felt like that, too." he thought.

"See, you don't need a drug to feel good. Cuddling can work, too," said Shadow absentmindedly, with a bit of a faded smile on his face. Shadow felt conflicted. Did he regret saying such a thing? After seeing Sonic talk about his struggles and desires made him unsure.

Sonic jumped from his mattress and looked at Shadow eagerly, still standing in its corner. 

"Shads! Almost forgot, I got you something that you might like, a lot!" Sonic went over to the counter and, from one of the backpack's pockets, pulled out a plastic bag of coffee and handed it to Shadow.

The ebony hedgehog slowly opened it, and its potent fragrance invaded his nostrils. He looked at Sonic, with shimmering eyes.

"Hope it's not molded, or whatever coffee does when it goes bad..." said Sonic

"No, it's still very good. I appreciate it, Sonic, wholly. Where did you get it from?" asked Shadow.

"Gadget gave it to me. I told you. The loot was really good."

"I guess so. I should thank the wolf as well when I meet him next time. I haven't had coffee in such a long time." spoke Shadow with the same faint smile.

* * *

The hedgehog took back his spot on the mattress, still glaring at the ceiling. Shadow raised and went to make his coffee. He took a jetboil and attached a gas canister at the end of it. With a lighter, he ignited a flame. In a metal kettle, he poured some water from the flask Sonic used earlier, and placed the kettle on the fire. 

He was waiting for the water to start boiling.

"You want some, too?" asked Shadow.

"Wouldn't mind. Already smells great!"

"I didn't start making it, hedgehog."

"Still smells great! Maybe it's the coffee, or maybe it's you..." said Sonic, calmly and with an unnatural intonation, as if he was singing the lyrics of a song.

"Thanks for the compliment, I guess..." Shadow replied dryly and with a questioning look, unsure if he was supposed to catch a cultural reference, or if Sonic was just blabbering nonsense in his high state.

After a while, the water turned to a boil. Shadow took two metal mugs from below. He put a few spoons of coffee in each, then added the boiling water to them. When he reached for a spoon, he instinctively grabbed the burned one, and then swiftly dropped it and pushed it aside, audibly. Sonic remarked his appalled and troubled expression. Eventually, he poured the boiling water over the mugs, filling each equally, their steam dissipating a much beloved and painfully nostalgic perfume in the air, overflowing in the room.

Shadow felt it made the place more homely, more livable.

"Hey, Shads?" asked Sonic.

"Yes?"

"You think it's disgusting, what I'm doing?" inquired Sonic, his expression still relaxed.

Although Sonic asked such a grave and abrupt question, so indifferently, Shadow was still fazed by it. He wanted to give a short answer and be sincere like the blue hedgehog was to him, at this moment, although he couldn't bring himself to do it. 

"Hedgehog... It's a bit more nuanced than this," said Shadow, looking at his friend.

"How so?" asked Sonic.

"I mean, look, do you even know what this substance is called?" 

"The doc said it was called diamorphine and that it was like morphine."

"It's Heroin, Sonic. It's just another name for Heroin. Have you ever heard of it?"

"I guess I did... Hey, do you think I'm doing something bad? Like, morally?"

Shadow looked at Sonic, complicated. Did Sonic not grasp the dangers of what he was doing? Was he expecting Shadow to agree with his actions?

"I don't know anything about morality, hedgehog. I wasn't discussing such a subject. What I'm saying is that calling this substance dangerous would be an understatement. I've had" - Shadow paused. He was unsure if he should continue going that deep in the subject. After a while, he decided to continue and say what he had to say.

"I've had acquaintances who died because of it, and I've known people for which the drug was central to all their decision making. You take it once per week, then twice, then every day. Soon your veins collapse, you look slender from not eating, you have all sorts of problems, and that if you're lucky and don't overdose with it one night."

"Who?" inquired Sonic.

"Who, what?"

"Said you had friends who took it."

Shadow felt suddenly upset. Was the hedgehog making fun of him? Did he ignore everything he had said?

"Not friends, former coworkers. Why does it matter?"

Shadow looked straight at the hedgehog, who was still looking in the ceiling, to watch closely watch his reactions, expecting some expression of concern or regard, but to no avail. Sonic was as comfortable and soporific as before, as though he was partially speaking to Shadow in a dream.

"I see. You do not believe me." deemed Shadow, disappointed.

"No, Shads. I really, really do!"

"Then!?" spoke Shadow, trying to keep his anger with his friend at bay.

"Then, what?"

"Then why don't you quit?! Besides, it doesn't seem to be an infinite supply of it, anyway."

"There's more from where I took it from." said Sonic.

"How often do you take it?" inquired Shadow, sternly.

"Once or twice per week, when I'm feeling lonely. Took it first a few times 6 months ago, but then Doc wouldn't give it to me anymore. After everything went to shit, two months ago, found out he was gone and had this idea that it had to be around his office, somewhere."

"And have you considered trying to stop taking it? Have you at least attempted and struggled with withdrawal?" interrogated Shadow.

"No. Don't want to quit it, Shads. Don't you get it?!"

"Sonic, what you're doing is extremely perilous for your mental and physical health!"

"My mental and physical health?!" Sonic chuckled, his giggle soon turning into full-blown laughter in Shadow's face.

Shadow faced away, took both of their cups, and seated himself next to Sonic, who was now standing on his arm, ready to receive the coffee. He took a single sip then began speaking. Shadow sat, with his back facing Sonic, with the cup in hand, steam going upwards and into his muzzle. He looked through the window, at the gloomy and bleak light outside.

"Got nothing to live for anymore. You think I don't know how a junkie ends up like? But what do I got to live for? My life's a daily grind for food, trying to get the next can of tuna from an abandoned somewhere. Barely talk to any of you for days. World's ending. 'Sides, I don't hurt anyone but myself." said Sonic, taking small sips from his cup from time to time.

Silence overcame the conversation. Shadow didn't say anything for a while, not drinking his coffee.

"I ain't hurting nobody so, I see no harm." continued Sonic, smiling.

"What if I told you that you're hurting me?" said Shadow.

"Oh, don't come at me with that, Shadow. We both know. You've been isolating yourself from me for months, never even bothering to contact me, even when I could have been of help. You ain't got any say in what I do. Nobody does... You all left me when you saw I couldn't be the hero I was, that I was just as weak as everyone. I am free to do whatever I want. You all wanted a hero, not a fucking friend, and all I wanted was you. Yearned so much for all of you, and you shut me off." said Sonic, bizarrely and carelessly chucking again.

Shadow turned his head to look closer into his friend's eyes, with dark anger, with an emotion of uncanny depth, and Sonic did not know what it was. He was, for the first time in his life, actually intimidated by Shadow.  
His face was that of stone, and his glance, bottomless, like an abyss that twisted existence, like a furnace bent on consuming whatever stood in its way, only to mold it and spit it back however it preferred.

For a moment, Sonic thought he saw in the corner of his eye a monster and not a hedgehog.


	5. Love

Sonic said nothing. The same drowsiness that sang him to sleep, the same complete bliss that Heroin usually gave him was no longer there. Something was missing. Perhaps the dose was lower than before. Or perhaps, Shadow breached it all together?!

But how could that be, Sonic wondered? How could someone's look break such a powerful shielding trance? How could one defeat sirens so charming, their melody becoming only slightly audible, as if from someplace far?

But, the ship was sinking, the sirens ran away to other warm places, and Sonic did not know how to swim, especially in such extraordinary and treacherous waters. He thought he should have taken a higher dose. Like the waves of such a sea, he felt two mobians hands pull his arms upwards, towards him, towards that magnetic, all-consuming swirl, and he looked up to see Shadow's eyes frighteningly close to his, muzzles barely apart. The ship was heading for the iceberg, and all the captains have fled. Shadow grimaced at the pain his wounded hand signaled him.

Shadow was breathing directly into him, and his grip was hurting Sonic's arms. 

"What if I told you, hedgehog, something about me, since I see, you have so many questions regarding me evading you?" said Shadow, with a strange concocting grimace.

"W-What?" stuttered Sonic. He felt threatened.

"I never thought you'd become a real person. You were always so enthusiastic, even about the worst things in life. I hated you. I despised what I couldn't feel. I despised knowing I could never be as happy as you were. I dearly hoped it was all an act. Did you know that? Did you ever consider how much it frustrated me, back then?" spoke Shadow, calmly, with the same dreadfully eclipsing look. Sonic looked at him as though he had accidentally summoned a demon right before him.

"...O-ok, Shads, you're hurting my arms, I think-" Sonic stuttered, but he was interrupted. 

"You say you have so much empathy towards your friends, but I don't think you gave a shit about how horrible I've felt, seeing you glow under the limelight, seeing you dancing in the street, around the hubris. You gave no credit to my slow and silent suffering. Nevertheless, the past is in the past."

"Shadow, I'm so-"

"Shut up! It's my turn to speak, hedgehog! You weren't a person to me back then, anyway. I didn't give a shit if you died in a ditch somewhere. But then, one day, I've heard from your teammates how destroyed you were, how shattered, and I came to you out of morbid curiosity. I thought I would fancy seeing you destroyed for once, seeing reality stab you in the back as it did for me since my useless creation, seeing you realize, for once, what true unprivileged suffering feels like. I entered the room in hopes I would relish so much! You couldn't believe how much I struggled to bottle my sadistic excitement to see you truly hurt. I even brought a camera to take photos of your disheveled and torn figure!" Shadow broke into a maniacal deafening laugh.

Sonic was trembling, his fur now on the edge of his skin, his arms aching due to Shadow's grip. He didn't blink. He looked like a deer in the light, terrorized, perplexed, not understanding whether Shadow had snapped or what he was saying was factual.

How could he have called Shadow a friend, a mobian who relished in a soul's suffering, his soul? How was he not aware of the venom the ebony hedgehog carried with him? Sonic refused to believe Shadow was that type of a mobian.

"Shads, STOP! You've lost your mi-"

"And guess what?! I casually entered. I saw you, Sonic, and the weight of the world all collapsed on myself. I was torn apart when the instant my cold eyes fell on you. I wanted to die just to bring you back to your previous state, to see you smile again! And when I did, I knew I would watch you all of my life, like a fucking exhibit in a museum, always visiting, always paying the ticket to see you again. I felt such a goddamn painful yearning to care for you, all the fucking time, and I knew it would follow me until my fucking death! Think about it, Sonic! Me?! Such a stoic and emotionless hedgehog?! I began running from you like from the plague! All of these sentiments would only bring me pain, and I would never assume them. If I failed to protect you, then all of my days I would waste to spend thinking of you. But, what a jest! You became what I was fearing for myself!"

Sonic's fright faded slightly, his perplexion fading away. The blue hedgehog suddenly understood the pain Shadow was feeling. He had hopelessly fallen for him.

"I don't care to hide it anymore. I don't care what you think of it. I'm already suffering from it."

Shadow brought his muzzle into Sonic's in a deep kiss. He waited like that, locked. Sonic's eyes were wide open in surprise, but then he eventually shut them off. The ebony hedgehog brought his tongue further, playing with his partner's, reveling in the electrifying sentiment. He felt de profound yearning to merge with his partner, more than their bodies would allow, more than the laws of physics would permit.

After a while, when Shadow's painful grip on his arms softened, he pulled out. He looked at the ebony hedgehog with physical desire, speechless.  
Shadow moved away, returning to his original position, not facing Sonic, sipping quietly from his coffee.

"Shadow... I." Sonic didn't know how to continue.

"You don't have to say anything if you have nothing to say," responded Shadow. 

After a while, Sonic resumed looking at the ceiling, his euphoric state returning, although only partially. Shadow's eyes were fixated on the burned spoon on the table. In an instant, everything became clear to him.

He knew what he had to do.

"I'm sorry I pulled you into this shit, Shads. I care about you, so much, too. Maybe I don't know how to show that to people. I just... don't know. Was so lonely these days... They've been so cold and- I thought it would be easier if-" Sonic's attempt at justifying himself was interrupted.

Shadow changed his position. To Sonic's surprise, he came close to him, next, behind the back of his head, and propped him up towards him, in a sitting position, in the mattress. Sonic found himself wrapped in Shadow's arms, his back on the ebony hedgehog's chest. Sonic stopped talking, and Shadow began playing with his spikes.

"How's that? Cold anymore? Comfortable?" asked Shadow, hushed.

"Yeah... it feels like just then..." responded Sonic, quietly.

"Like how?"

"That time..."

"You never said anything about it, back then."

"Nobody had time for that, back then..."

Shadow felt more daring. He pulled his arm beneath Sonic's shirt, feeling his fur, gently playing with it. Sonic tensed, and Shadow felt his tension.

"Do you mind me doing this?"

"No-"

They sat like that, locked for a while, not speaking. Now and again, a particular metal sound reverberated in the room, only audible in the silence. Sonic looked outside the window and saw that the frames reflected a reddish sheen. Dusk was settling in. 

"One day I'm going to destroy that Ferris wheel," stated Shadow

"Why? I like it. Always been wondering how come it still moves."

"Perhaps it's the wind. Its screeches are annoying."

"Don't mind them. Think they're louder here since you're much closer."

As Shadow was playing with the hedgehog's fur, he felt his tension increasing, becoming more and more apparent as the ebony hedgehog look at his crotch area.

"You're pretty pent up. I'm guessing you didn't have the chance to 'play' with somebody lately?" Shadow said.

Sonic looked away, flustered. His muzzle felt hot, and he started twitching, trying to act as if he didn't hear what was said. Shadow closely observed all his reactions.

"I guess I made you uncomfortable," said Shadow.

"N-no, Shadow! It's fine... It feels really good. Just... didn't expect you to say such a thing, so openly." Sonic chuckled, attempting to release his sexual tension a bit.

"There's nothing wrong with physical needs. In time, they can take a toll on you if you ain't got anyone to help."

"Heh, never had that much help before, that kind of help, anyway," said Sonic playfully, trying to brush Shadow off, alleviating his awkwardness.

"No? No good looking recruits? I always thought you were a player. Everybody likes being with you." continued Shadow.

"Didn't have time for that..." responded Sonic.

"You have now. Do you want me to give you a helping hand?"

Sonic looked up at the ceiling, embarrassed again. Although he yearned for his mate's touch, he didn't like talking about sexual things. Sonic much preferred for circumstances to follow their natural course, in bed.

"Y-yeah..." said Sonic.

"Which hand? We've got a vanilla one and a more kinky one."

Sonic laughed. He wasn't expecting the ebony hedgehog to throw a joke, given the circumstances.

Sonic felt the same hand playing with his fur going down, towards his jeans.

"I'm guessing we could start with the classic one."

Shadow's hand was now reaching his pants, going slowly through his boxers. Sonic instinctively tensed, clenching his hands tight on Shadow's arm as his mate's embrace tightened. Shadow unzipped his mate's pants and exposed his erect member. He began slowly massaging around it, then began rubbing his member moderately, careful not to grip it too hard. As Shadow glared at his mate's erect manhood, Sonic closed his eyes in embarrassment and clenched harder on his partner's arm. A feeling of sexual ecstasy overcame Sonic, and he began moaning quietly.

"No longer comfortable?" asked Shadow.

"No- Don't stop..." said Sonic between some moans that escaped his muzzle.

"Then relax, hedgie. There's nothing to be shy about. You can be open about what your needs are. It's not that big of a deal." 

"F-fine... T-then... T-try biting me. If you want to..." Sonic stuttered.

"Ah, you're the type that likes it spicy," responded Shadow to his mate's request. 

Shadow began licking his trembling mate's neck, as the grip on Sonic's dick hardened. After a couple of teasing, Shadow's teeth plunged into Sonic's fur, and the hedgehog felt a sharp pain in his neck. Sonic started trembling in excitement, his moans transforming into satisfied sweet grunts.

"Shads, stop for a bit- Please-"

Immediately Shadow pulled out his teeth from his fur and skin and loosened his grip on his hand. 

"Did it hurt too badly?"

Sonic broke the hedgehog's embrace and sat before him, facing him, with his pants almost pulled down, rubbing his neck where Shadow had made a bit of a mess. 

"No... It was good. I was about- to- you know."

"Cum?"

"Y-yeah."

"And where's the harm?" Shadow laughed. 

Sonic stood up and took off his shirt and pants, then sat naked next to his mate.

"Shads, can we do it properly? Could you undress, too? I want you to feel good too. 'Sides, you've seen mine. It's unfair, otherwise." Sonic requested.

Shadow nodded and obliged. He undressed and threw his sweater and cargo pants on the mattress, then sat in front of Sonic, bringing his pelvis closer to him until their members met, sitting on top of Sonic's legs.

"Want to rub them together, this time?" asked Shadow.

Sonic started massaging their members together, slowly as Shadow came closer with his muzzle, nibbling on his neck again, continuing to mess with it. Sonic started panting, moaning, feeling the mixture of pain and pleasure bottling up inside him. At one point, Shadow bit him harder, and Sonic groaned, accelerating his rubbing and tightening the grip.

"Keep going, hedgie. You're going to make me cum." said Shadow, with a sensual, guttural voice the Sonic didn't hear before. In a short time, Sonic jumped with delight, letting out a prolonged moan, releasing in his hand. Soon, Shadow followed, biting even harder into his mate's neck.

Sonic looked at Shadow ejaculating, trying to drown his moans and grunts in his mate's neck. They sat intertwined until they both realized how cold the room was, a jab of frost waking them up from their trance.


	6. Lethal

  
"Hey, Sonic? You up?" asked Shadow.

Sonic scarcely opened his eyes up in Shadow's embrace, barely hearing him, as he had his head and ears deep into his mate's chest. He twitched drowsily and slowly and soon realized that he was beneath a thick duvet that smelled of old furniture. 

He sloppily remembered a dream. It was autumn and he was younger, running around a park, brown and yellow dead leaves on the ground, chaos, and laughter. He was waiting at a stand for icecream with Tails. He wondered how could the sensation of fresh and cold air contrast so much with that of the damp and stale fragrance within the room he slept in. 

Sonic attempted to recall more details about the dream but was unable to. Details were fuzzy, yellow images, laughter, leaves, autumn sweaters, warm heads in brisk autumn. He was unable to speak due to his dizzying somnolent state as he wished badly to return to his reverie. 

The blue hedgehog slowly moved his hands around Shadow's chest and his body until it finally met with his private parts. It was then that he noticed his mild erection and started caressing Shadow's testicles and member, a feeling of arousal creeping into him, as well. 

"Needy, huh?" asked Shadow quietly.

"Heh..." Sonic let out the beginning of a small giggle softly and tired.

Sonic's spikes radiated a peculiar and fruity fragrance that Shadow took in with every inhale, probing his memory to find out what it resembled like the most. After a few moments, he found out what it scented like. 

"You smell of lemons. I always noticed but never could pinpoint what it was." stated Shadow.

Sonic merely ignored Shadow and continued his sleepy rubs on his mate's member, until after a while they finally stopped, Sonic being on the verge of falling again into his sleep, with his eyes fully hidden behind sluggish eyelids.

"You're tired, huh? I want to talk to you about something important. Hey, hedgehog, are you listening!?" inquired Shadow, stern and with a harsher and more serious tone than before.

Sonic continued to ignore Shadow's demands. Frustrated, the ebony hedgehog pulled the duvet away from Sonic, exposing his naked furry body to the room's cold morning air, revealing his morning wood in the process. The blue hedgehog was jolted out of his deep trance by the air's stabs of sharp frost. He abruptly propped himself up on his bottom and crossed his legs and arms around himself, to hide his exposed privates and push away the painful chills, wide awake, shivering. He turned his head towards Shadow and an angry expression formed on his face.

"What the FUCK was that for, Shads?!" yelled Sonic, questioningly and furious.

"I wanted to speak to you, hedgehog. It's an important matter?" responded Shadow, calmly.

"Can't it wait? It must be like 5 in the morning?! My head throbs, now. If I did the same to you you would jus' throw me away in the streets!"

How did Sonic now what time it was, anyway?

"No. Unfortunately, it cannot wait" said Shadow bluntly.

"Yeah!? What's so burning so hot then?!" responded Sonic, sleepily.

"I want to take one of those too. A hit of Heroin" said Shadow, mechanically, as though he stated a scientific fact.

Sonic almost jumped from his latent downer state. He was struggling with a terrible migraine and a tad of nausea and dizziness. A horrible hangover was kicking in.

"Why?!" asked Sonic.

Shadow came closer to him, and Sonic brought his legs together, tighter, to further conceal his morning erection. The ebony hedgehog placed himself behind Sonic and started playing with the fur at his back, casually, smelling his blue friend's slight physical discomfort and embarrassment. Shadow wondered why, although they had slept together just a couple of hours earlier, Sonic still felt cold to him when placed in such postures.

"You don't have to be so awkward towards these things. It's a normal, healthy -" Shadow was interrupted by a screech and a shout.

"Shadow?! You woke me up, THIS EARLY, just to make fun of me and give me a lecture about cocks and why they get hard?!"

"And how am I making fun of you?"

"Take Heroin? Say that you are willing to take that with a smile after the scolding you gave and almost threw me out?"

"Threw you out?! What are you even talking about, hedgehog?! I stopped you from leaving!"

"You' such a hypocrite! You gave me ton' of lectures about why it's all so bad and all so shitty just to say that you want me to give you one?" Sonic's tone became softer. He turned his head back to the ebony hedgehog and exchanged with him a somewhat disappointed look. Shadow stared into his eyes when a faint melancholic smile formed on his muzzle.

"Look, I have been thinking more about what you said, about the world, about the war. I think I agree with you. After all, there's no point why we should feel good with the time we have here, and all that."

"But- you said-" Sonic wanted to continue, but his mind wouldn't let him. Suddenly, it was just too drowsy, and he could barely piece together the words his mate formed. The blue hedgehog broke Shadow's cozy embrace and stood up, immediately falling short of breath, and began scratching his eyes with his hands.

"Are you feeling sick? You look ill to me" asked Shadow, gazing at the naked mobian hedgehog that was standing before him, with slight concern.

"Well? Whadda ya think? Woke me up in the middle of the night. I'm just peachy," responded Sonic, still scratching his eyes and trying to keep his balance on his feet.

"You don't look like it," said Shadow.

Shadow stood up, too, and filled a cup with potable water. He handed it to Sonic, who drank it all without saying anything. 

"I'm fine, Shads. What time is it?" inquired Sonic

"7 in the morning. 7 o'clock."

Sonic's nausea intensified. It might have been 7 AM but it felt like 2 AM to him. He looked at his friend and thought something truly bizarre was happening to Shadow. Try as he might, he couldn't brush off the feeling. Moreover, he was too dizzy to think very clearly, especially since he was coming off the drug. He moved to the table to prepare a dose and noticed how dreamlike his surroundings were.

"You want to- in. I mean you want another spoon? You got another?" said Sonic, confused.

"No, I'm not taking yours. You haven't got enough, anyway. Why don't you take me directly to the source?" pleaded Shadow.

"What? Now!? Can't I show you it, like, another time? Like, when I'm feeling less like shit?"

"You said you feel fresh."

"I didn't say I feel fresh, Shads! I said I'm not feeling sick. It's very early for me to just be awlright. What the heck has gotten into you, anyway?! You just up and dreamed something, thought of something in the middle of the night? It's hard to believe you up and turned 360 degrees."

"180 degrees." corrected Shadow.

"What?!"

"180 degrees is the opposite way, Sonic. 360 is just a full rotation. Moreover, almost all fields prefer to express it as radians. That would be turning around π radians."

Sonic looked at Shadow and was almost convinced that he was jesting, that he woke him up so cruelly just to prank him in such a twisted and distasteful way. 

"Look, Sonic. The truth is this. I want to get a few shots for myself, and I am eager to try them. But more importantly, I believe it's unsafe to keep them there. Much better, take them all with you. You can keep them here or at your place, or you can start living with me and we could bring them here. You decide." explained Shadow.

Sonic stared and Shadow and said nothing. 

"Think about this, for a bit, hedgehog. This drug was somewhat hard to get even before the war. Just consider how much more difficult it is to take hold of it now and how badly some mobians would want that. If anyone found it, they'd either use it for themselves or sell it since there's definitely a market for it. Some would even rather sleep on the streets for this. Moreover, that place will become more and more dangerous. Certain actors may have already begun seizing this opportunity."

In his faulty state, whatever Shadow said almost made sense. What if there were other users, and they found that abandoned office, recognized the substance, and took it all? All of this time, Sonic deemed he had acted foolishly. Shadow knew more about keeping safe and secure client packages and delicate materials as he used to work as a G.U.N. agent, after all.

"I get where you're coming from, but-" 

"Excellent, let's not waste any time!" interrupted Shadow.

"Like, go right now? Can't I at least wash a bit? Go out and take a piss?"

Shadow gave Sonic a grumpy look.

* * *

Sonic and Shadow took their gas masks and backpacks with them.

The ebony hedgehog faced Sonic all the time he dressed up, carefully ensuring that he wouldn't catch any glimpse of his suspiciously bulging backpack. He planned ahead, thinking of what to say if Sonic made any such observation. He would say that it was full of weapons or something along those lines. After all, they were invading an abandoned space, full of drugs, near a noisy Ferris wheel that brought complete attention to it.

They both moved out of Shadow's den, into the wilderness that had become their world now. Sonic moved slowly, and Shadow was struggling to slow down to comply with his pace. 

The ebony hedgehog looked up to see the skies burdened by heavy and grey clouds. The atmosphere was deadly quiet all around, resembling a still nature painting. He anticipated massive polluted snow that night, a dense and damp coating to sink the whole village in a putrid swamp, to taint all potable sources of water, as it had been the case before. 

The twisted streets were darkened and sinister, only the light of the alloy winter firmament reflecting into the makeshift houses' windows, here and there. Some were made of concrete and some entirely of metal. The ground was simply dirt and a few patches of grass, not paved whatsoever anywhere.

They walked slowly into the surrounding space, as though blinded by something, Shadow carefully following Sonic behind, ready to spot any possible threat, predicting an ambush after each corner. After a while, he was unsure if his partner was actually leading him somewhere or just sleepwalking. They turned left, then right, then left and the right, as if trying to escape a mythological labyrinth, that seemed to expand as they progressed. The increasingly mysterious and tense air only made Shadow more paranoid. 

After a good amount of walking, the density of the makeshift houses decreased. They seemed to slowly and safely approach a more unpopulated zone, airier, and the size of the Ferris wheel increased in their view.

Shadow's anxiety grew when met with a metal door to an abandoned cabin. 

Back in the days, there had been a not-so-popular park there, although pleasant for morning walks. The cabin was placed near the entrance to the park, signaled by an oxidized high metal entrance and an old, unsteady fence. A few other cabins stood scattered around, perhaps remnants of the war, Shadow thought. The Ferris wheel moved slowly and puzzlingly, the industrial sound becoming more and more hypnotizing, it's periodicity more present, as Sonic scoured around in his backpack for a key to the cabin's door, in a jarringly and chaotic fashion.

He found it and unlocked it. Shadow's heart skipped a beat.

* * *

The room was very dim, only a few glimmers of light penetrating it, thick dust projecting within the light cones, through metal shutters. Although at first sight, it seemed to be merely a normal medical room, with syringes, equipment, a hospital bed, and few medical devices, such as a digital tensiometer and mobian chaos-meter, to Shadow, it felt liminal. 

The room felt as if entering the umbilical cord between reality and dream, between fact and fiction. This is where Sonic's addiction began, and this is where, Shadow decided, it was to forever end.

On one wall there sat a metal cabinet which Sonic unlocked with a second key revealing further syringes and a considerable amount of plastic bags with a white powder in them.

"That's all there is," said Sonic.

Shadow moved a few steps closer, as though looking at an exotic color, never seen before on the spectrum, in awe at the petty plastic bags seemingly filled with dirt, as though they were more alien than he was.

"Great." replied the ebony hedgehog as he put his backpack to his own feet, opening it up, as if to allow space to take the drug into his possession, into his custody.

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCK SHADOW?!?" screeched Sonic from the bottom of his lungs, wildly, fur and spikes active and straight, ready to land a deadly blow straight through Shadow's chest. 

Unbelievably to him, in the split of a second, Shadow pulled out a canister of gas and with very few and rapid movements, set fire to its contents, throwing the bomb directly at the cabinet. As quick as Sonic was, he was still uncertain how he managed to cause such destruction so swiftly, the flame engulfing the cabinet's wall completely and rapidly spreading around the room. 

What followed was a cloud of thick and lethal smoke. As Shadow moved to pull Sonic out, reaching to grab his wrist all he felt was extreme pain, a powerful blow landing directly in his stomach, severing his breath.

The blue hedgehog was submerged in despair, and Shadow could see his determination to end both of their lives in that instant, the blindingly red halo of the explosion rippling through his quills and revealing his monstrous hellish expression: his fangs were shining, demanding gore, muzzle agape and the frown of a rabid animal displayed on his forehead.

Sonic had thrown his gas mask on the ground. 

A few swift blows followed which Shadow barely managed to dodge, followed by a quick attempt at a powerful bite in his neck, which the ebony hedgehog parried with his arms. Shadow looked in shock as the monster, his former friend, dug his fangs through the flesh of his left hand, pulling out and leaving his mangled arm to bleed badly and dangerously quickly, his claws trying to make as much damage as possible, his feet kicking at the ebony's, trying to put him on the ground and pin him down.

Shadow had enough of the madness that was unfolding in front of his eyes. Suddenly, his claws were engulfing Sonic's enraged head and were digging deep through his spikes, drawing blood. A robust headbutt followed, Shadow still with the gas mask on, which left them both bleeding badly from the forehead. 

Sonic took a few steps back and stared somewhere in space, muzzle still opened, bleeding from the head, arms at distance from the body, still in a fighting stance as his wild expression vanished gradually, turning tamer. Suddenly, he began coughing a few times until he vomited on the ground, the intoxicating breath of smoke reaching him, suffocating him.

He quickly realized it was foolish to take down his mask.

He swirled around, confused, repeating the phrase: "Piece of shit! Piece of shit!". His vision was fading, the horrid heat of the smoke and the fire burdening his lungs, feeling as if it was ripping them apart altogether. 

His vision began blurring badly. He continued his insulting blabbering until he was speaking in tongues, Shadow's silhouette barely forming through the smoke, until he could no longer speak. He wanted to cry, he wanted to shout, but could no longer do so. He saw the Shadow's reach closer as his sight faded to pitch black.

* * *

Sonic heard something, a mechanical sound, and he felt that he was floating, pulled from his feet by an unknown and strong force. In his feverish reverie, he thought it must have been the same force that pulled the Ferris wheel, be it night or day. 

He felt extremely cold and demanded something, like a blanket or a cuddle, but he knew nobody could hear him. He felt pain creeping from his head, arms, and teeth, the signs of a fierce battle, that turned out to be unrewarding in the end, for nothing... in vain.

"Like my whole life, I guess," he spoke to himself.

He felt himself move. He thought his spirit was just departing from this mobian body, leaving its fleshy chamber, returning to the chaotic matter from which it originated, reforging the connection and bridging the gap, combining his petty self with a higher, universal, ideal form.

He felt a cold surface touch his back, a few other metallic screeches that turned to form a song inside his mind, as he resumed his thoughts. He was being lifted by something, from the ground, above in the sky. He opened his eyes and stared at the terrain departing from his feet, becoming farther. He kept staring.

A strange fright entombed him. Dying meant leaving behind his identity, his memories, and everything he held dear. At first, he didn't mind, as he didn't actually fancy who he was. He never did. 

But his memories? To allow such a blank and monotonous slumber to erase the images of his fox brother, his friends, and their past times, along with their love for each other, in the night? He wished he could put them somewhere, in a cosmic locker or box, to be archived forever, somewhere where the abyss of Death wouldn't find it.

He imagined himself doing that. He regretted not keeping a journal or something like an everyday diary, to store his daily recollections in. He would have given word to have it frozen somewhere, in time, after his death. But what would that accomplish, in the end? After all, what is memory without its owner remembering it?

\---

"Are you coming back to your senses? You'll miss your own celebration," spoke Shadow with a smug smirk plastered on his muzzle.

Sonic looked in front of him to see the ebony hedgehog standing on a metal bench, without any mask on, with bandaged arms and head. Awaken unceremoniously from a frightful dream he looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings.

From what he could gather, he was in a small room with windows and a large glass door. The room was moving and making noise. The ground was departing and the view of the landscape was widening. 

He suddenly realized he was in the Ferris wheel, with Shadow out of all mobians. The familiar sentiment of betrayal started flowing through him, making him display his fangs and claws, again making his spikes and fur rise. His muscles tensed. He looked at Shadow and felt the urge to make him into a bloodbath, an urge he never felt before since that day, a wild and uncharacteristic desire to show to those that take him for a fool when he's down, miserable, vulnerable, what happens.

"What? Don't tell me you want to fight again? You repay me with such violence after saving your li-"

"You PIECE of shit! I fucking trusted you, Shadow! I showed you something I fucking held so dear and you FUCKING ripped it apart! You FUCKING killed my only friend." interrupted Sonic, with fierce grunts and insults.

"Held dear?! Hedgehog, that thing was-"

"Shut the fuck up, please!" Sonic screamed, stubbornly covering his ears with his hands, turning himself from a fear-inspiring animal into something like a kid throwing a tantrum at a parent.

Shadow complied, without giving up his smug expression, almost chuckling at him, staring at him in silence, waiting for his next move. Sonic tried his best to control his rage, made all the effort to recover his humanity and humility. He took a deep breath, then a few more, as he deemed one was not sufficient.

The two hedgehogs looked at each other in silence. In a few moments, Sonic turned to look at the window, observing the grim technological landscape in the distance. For a brief moment, he was in awe at how much he could see from that point. The city of Metropolis looked like an iron tomb, like a continuous geometrical object, where one couldn't tell what part ended and what segment began. 

He wondered what if the wheel stopped with them when it was at the apex. Climbing down would be an adventure, he thought, but hights didn't bother him, as long as there wasn't an ocean below the hights, at least. 

"Hey, Shads?"

Shadow was surprised. He didn't expect Sonic to recover so easily and call him by his familiar name.

"Yes?"

Sonic turned from the window to face the ebony hedgehog, with a slight melancholy clinging on his muzzle, his anger completely vanished.

"Can I ask you to do something? An important favor?" queried Sonic, with a strange tone.

"I suppose it depends on the favor. What is it?" Shadow said intrigued.

"After this, can I never see you again? I don't want to speak to you again. Would you mind that?" requested Sonic

Shadow's smug disappeared. How was this even a request someone can make? 

"Do you really wish that hedgehog? I tend to keep my promises," asked Shadow sternly, trying his best to veil the deep sadness that was starting to submerge his heart.

"I know that... And I know that I don't want to see you ever again," responded Sonic, refusing to look at him, resuming his staring outside.

Shadow looked at his feet. Although he did not see Sonic so frequently in the past, and although many times their past encounters were hateful, the blue hedgehog's request hurt him badly. So badly, in fact, that he could feel his eyes begin to tear up. 

Shadow wondered why. Was it because he had fallen for Sonic? Was it because the blue hedgehog said something he never thought he would hear from him, regardless of how many fights they had?

"Then, can do, hedgehog, can do" spoke Shadow softly, then moved his sight quickly on the window, at the endless space where the sky met the ground and merged into one.


	7. Amy

He looked into the dusty, slightly cracked mirror, not bother to clean it or anything. He glared at his tired, reddish eyes, his chaotic blue fur, and spikes, his suffering mind, which began revealing itself in physical form. He moved his mobian hand before his eyes and saw that it was trembling, unstable, unsure.

"Damn, I'm such a fucking sucker for it. I'm such a fucking sucker for it!" thought Sonic while staring into his image, frowning. He took a hairband from the counter and pulled his spikes into a short ponytail. He unclenched his muzzle a few times, massaging it, checking out his fangs in the mirror.

He thought this look would make him appear healthier, more kempt than he was, at least to Tails, who was completely unaware of his addiction situation. 

"And it better fucking stay this way!" Sonic exclaimed to himself. Pulling anyone else into his mess would only bring him and his friends more suffering. "Just look at what happened with Shadow!" he thought.

Sonic badly wanted another hit or at least something similar, perhaps another medicine, another something, a pill to quench his thirst, to alleviate his urges that were bringing him on the verge of madness, especially at night. Everything turned worse at night as his feet wouldn't stop moving, wouldn't respond to his orders, try as he might enforce them. Many nights, when Tails was asleep, Sonic would emerge from his room and run, as fast as he could, circling the peripheral town, his faint impression of freedom bringing him to a particular weak serenity of the mind, at least momentarily.

Sonic dressed up, and as he did, he felt that even the clothes started wearing him out.

When idling away, a ruckus interrupted from the main chamber. Sonic and Tails' house was slightly more spacious than the others. It had the main room, a smaller 'bedroom' in which he slept and spent most of his time when not running on doing errands, and a basement, reserved for Tails and his past time experiments. The sound was coming from the main room and carried with it a set of familiar and loud voices. He quickly distinguished a female's voice that seemed to be Amy's. 

Sonic swiftly opened up the door and approached the familiar figures within. On an old cushion, Amy sat next to Silver. Before them stood Tails, directly on the ground, in a lotus position, staring at a round object, a moving wheel, which kept turning perpetually, apparently not connected to anything.

"Hey, Sonic!" saluted Tails.

"Hey, lil' brother. Hey Amy and Silver. What's up? What are you all people doing here?" asked Sonic.

Amy and Silver saluted the hedgehog and then began looking at him, a tad suspicious.

"I've invited them to show them something pretty important. Sonic, I think we may have a breakthrough!" spoke Tails in his typical scientist voice.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we're all pretty excited. Look! What do you think this is?" asked Tails, as he was raising the wheel that was supported by a metal plate, drawing full attention to it.

"A... wheel?" 

"Yeah, but what does it resemble? It's not just a wheel!"

"A... thing to put your hamster in? A toy? A plot device?! Damn, I don't know, Tails. What is it?" asked Sonic, jokingly.

"It's a replica of the Ferris wheel in the park, or where there was once a park. And look! It moves by itself! Initially, I thought I have created a Perpetuum mobile but obviously-"

"Mhm, interesting. Look y'all, I'd love to chat more but I gotta go take a leak" said Sonic, completely uninterested, ready to run outside.

"Sonic... Tails has something very important to tell us! Can't you wait, a tad, pleease? It doesn't take too long and he's pretty serious about this." intervened Amy.

"Hey Amy, wouldn't mind but I might piss myself from the excitement! Haha." laughed Sonic, trying to make a joke.

"Sonic! What's wrong?! Look, Tails' been telling us you keep ignoring him. I know we're all in a hard situation, that we're disappointed, and that's normal. It's very hard for all of us, but Tails' working so hard to pull us out. He's maybe the most stable person between us and we should listen!" continued Amy.

"Why you being so aggressive, Amy? I just wanna take a piss and I'll be back in a jiffy." justified Sonic.

"You always say that Sonic... and never come back..." responded Tails disappointed.

"Hey, it ain't my fault my bladder's large! 'Sides, why go tell Amy and speak behind my back 'bout me when you could have told me I pissed you off?"

"I... I told you. You never listen to anything I say. Sonic, I love you and you're my family but lately... I think I'm working for nothing and nobody." said Tails, almost as if ready to break into a cry.

"Wait, wait, wait! Before this devolves into a shitshow, again, how about we listen to Tails for a lil' bit and then we go do our errands or sort our failing relationships later?" interrupted Silver.

Everyone turned to him and stared at him.

"S-Silver?! Did you just swear?! And since when are you so cynical about this all?! Tails and Sonic are in a misunderstanding!" said Amy, pointing at him, frightened or feigning it.

"W-What? Just because I'm a lil younger than you all doesn't mean I'm 12! I'm not a child!" responded Silver.

"I didn't say that! I just thought you never cussed."

Silver frowned at Amy.

"Let's just listen to the guy, everyone." concluded Silver.

All of the eyes were on Tails. Tails took a deep breath and moved a step forward as if he was on a big scene and keeping a presentation for a huge crowd.

"Okay, so! I'm gonna try to explain this in easy terms. We all know chaos energy is pretty important, and that it cannot be simply stored in batteries or such. Mobians can store chaos, some, mostly hedgehogs can control it pretty well. We have some weapons that use it, and such. Anyway! So! When chaos left us, I first thought that Eggman brought some huge chaos emerald or something of this sort, to store all that energy away, all the time, whenever it was produced! Of course, that is very unlikely, agree?"

Amy raised her hand. 

"But couldn't he have just... you know... destroyed it?" asked Amy, bewildered. "Why store it somewhere?"

"You can't destroy energy, Amy. You have to store it somewhere or convert it into another form of energy. Energy can leave a closed system and will do so, as the laws of entropy dictate, but it can never be destroyed, just transformed or dissipated outside of the closed system." corrected Silver.

"Exactly! I thought he converted it into something. Electrical energy works weird too, lately, and seems to behave somewhat the same. Batteries drain faster nowadays. Anyway, I constructed this wheel and saw that it behaved exactly like the one in the park. It moves by itself! No external energy is required. No batteries included! I think the way the wheel is constructed, it makes it not only attract a type of energy but it also conserves it. I called this type of energy "O energy" since O looks like a wheel. I think what Eggman did was to use a device to convert Chaos energy to this type of energy, which has this property to bind to these objects and accumulate it."

"All nice and fancy, Tails, but how does that help our current situation?"

"We should convert the energy back! Mobians, mostly hedgehogs, can produce chaos energy from other forms of energy. Sure it will dissipate again into "O energy", but as long as we have a device like that with us, we can always pull the energy back from it into chaos energy, and thus have a stream of it, cause you create a loop! Wheel - mobian chaos - wheel."

"I understand. Tails, you're a genius!" exclaimed Silver.

"It's a bit hard to grasp, Tails, for me. But if there's something we can do to help you, please let us know! I am very eager to do everything it takes to get us in a better place!"

"Yeah, the grave," said Sonic.

"Hey, what the fuck, Sonic?! That's not funny!" shouted Amy.

"Hey, Amy, since when do you swear?" chuckled Silver.

"A-Anyway guys. You're all hedgehogs so let's try! Take the energy from the wheel, transform it into chaos energy, then place it back into the wheel!" interrupted Tails.

"But how do we do that, Tails?" said Amy.

"Well, I don't know, Amy. Nobody does. You hedgehogs have this innate ability. Science still has no answer to how this interaction happens." explained Tails, still carrying the heavy plate with the moving wheel. 

"Let me try, Tails!" said Silver. He moved closer to the plate and closed his eyes. He put one of his arms forward and took a breath in, trying to feel the wheel, imagining something, like a cloud of warmth, exiting it and entering his body. As he did this, the wheel started spinning faster, and a heatwave of healing hit him. Definitely chaos, he thought. Tails felt the weight of the plate liberate him, as it started levitating away, moving away from his arms. 

"Wha! Silver! Your power is back!" exclaimed Amy. 

"Aaah. Not really that much, but it's there. Definitely chaos."

Silver put the plate on the ground, slowly and carefully, using his telekinetic abilities, powered by the chaos extracted from the wheel.

"Here, I'll try it too," said Amy.

"Amy! You've never used chaos energy before. This looks unsafe." intervened Sonic, urgently.

"Well, I'll have to learn! I'm gonna do what it takes to help you all!" exclaimed Amy.

"Amy, you don't get it. Controlling chaos is not easy and can have... well bad... effects. Chaos does what you want, not what you think you want!" urged Sonic, as he began pulling his spikes, frightened of what might happen. 

"And?! Tails said hedgehogs have an innate ability. Isn't that right, Tails?"

The fox nodded.

"Yeah, but, as I said, it does what you want, not what you think you do!" shouted Sonic.

"I'll be careful! You always protected me like I'm some damsel in distress, Sonic! That's no longer needed. I'm here to protect you all and I have all it takes!"

"Amy! With that kind of attitude and chaos energy, you'll burn the whole house down!"

"I am sure chaos will be more than pleased to meet a lady like me!"

"You go gurl! I mean... I mean- Sonic. Let her do it once. Let's see what happens. We're in a controlled environment. Should something happen, we're here for her!" interrupted Silver.

"Thank you, Silver, now step back. Time to save the boys!" concluded Amy.

Amy aggressively stepped in front of the plate as if she was on a catwalk. She closed her eyes and lifted her right arm, as she had seen Silver do. She imagined speaking to someone, someone who could help her, someone who could understand her pain and take her seriously.

"Oh no, we're all going to die..." said Sonic to himself

"Please... help us. I'll give everything" pleaded Amy, quietly.

The wheel started spinning, and Amy felt a rush of energy, a rush of serotonin, a rush of life. The air seemed much warmer. She felt her hands burn. 

"I don't care if you burn me alive! Just give me something to help my friends! Help us out!" she said to herself, fearlessly.

Suddenly, a pink sword of light, resembling a katana, materialized in her left arm. She was confident and ready to smash anything that stood in her way and posed a threat. She turned around to see her friends stare at her, amazed, as she was surrounded by a pink halo, a shield that was extending beyond her, covering all the four of them. The wheel was spinning out of control, ready to snap at any moment.

"Amy... what?!" exclaimed Sonic.

"Wha, Amy, you're really good at it! I told you!" shouted Silver, fists clenched in front of him.

"That's amazing, Amy! However, I think you're streaming too much energy conversion through the wheel. You need a bigger wheel for that!"

Amy let out a deep breath and felt the energy leave her. She felt confident, in full control of her destiny, and ready to sacrifice anything to use the power again in her fight.

"That felt amazing! It felt like I transformed into a magical girl! See?!" shouted the pink hedgehog at Sonic, excited.

Sonic looked at her, bewildered. 

"Well Sonic, you wanna try next?" asked Tails.

"What for, buddy? It's clear that this thing works. It works even better than chaos worked before. It's like free real estate." he said, frightened to try, confused, even carrying within his soul a spark of jealousy for the other two hedgehogs.

"Well... exactly. We don't know how this technique will work in battle. We better test it in a controlled environment, first."

"B-battle?"

Tails looked at Sonic confused.

"Yeah? Isn't that what we're developing this for?"

"Y-yeah. I guess so."

"Just try it for a bit, Sonic. Your input will help us design this technique better. We need to know how it reacts to anyone." spoke the Silver hedgehog.

"Y-yeah, but I haven't used chaos energy... in a long time," explained Sonic, looking at his friends, with open arms.

"It wasn't a problem for me since I never used it before..." Amy thought to herself. "You're right, Sonic! Chaos seems to do whatever your intentions are! It's like it knows you, perfectly! That's so romantic, you guys!" she exclaimed, jumping excited around the room. "I am so ready to smash some hoes!"

"Whoa, Amy! Language! What the fuck?!" shouted the silver hedgehog.

"Fine... I'm gonna do it," said Sonic.

Sonic moved in front of the plate just like the other did. He extended his arm out and tried to pull the energy, to feel the familiar chaos surround him once again.

"Sucker. SUCKER! SUCKER! SUCKER! SUCKER! I'm such a fucking sucker! The only thing I deserve right now is to die!" said a voice within his head that Sonic heard as though it was coming from a real mad mobian next to him.

Suddenly his hand was burning red and his skin felt itchy. He tried pulling his hand away but the wheel started spinning, blocking his movements. Sonic looked at it panicked as if it was a whirlpool of confusion, ready to suck him in at any moment and he screamed. Amy, Silver, and Tails rushed to pull him out but were pushed back by the energy's desire to consume everything it caught within its claws. Sonic felt hard cuts around his hand, extending above it and into his arms, as he screamed in pain.

Amy quickly closed her eyes and imagined the whole force coming into her, visualizing petting a wounded animal with love, caring for them, and the wheel stopped. 

Sonic stood there, arm bleeding, crying. 

"No no, what the fuck?! What the fuck happened!" shouted Silver as he pulled Sonic's arm to check him. There were many cuts, but they seemed quite superficial, although his right sleeve was completely ripped apart.

"Wait, Sonic! Maybe I can use my chaos to heal you!" said Amy as she tried taking his arm to look at it. Sonic aggressively pulled his arm away and in a fit of rage started to shout and cry.

"FUCK YOU! Fuck all of you! I jus' want you all to leave me the FUCK alone! Jus' Jus' get the FUCK out!"

Everyone stared at him in disbelief.

"S-Sonic... What- W- What happened?! What's wrong with you?"

Sonic rushed out of the door of his house, tears still falling on his face and muzzle.

"N-no Sonic, wait, I'm sorry!" screamed Tails, trying to follow him. Amy ran after him but he was nowhere to be found on the dark streets.

"Dammit! What the hell is wrong with this hedgehog?!" asked Amy, with a shout.


	8. Claws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all,
> 
> Thanks a lot for your support, your comments and your kudos! It means a lot to me and constantly brightens my day!
> 
> **This chapter here is a bit on the heavier side when it comes to violence and blood, so please be careful!**
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The sky was bright, and the landscape vividly green. 

Although Shadow heard voices of mobian pups playing in the field, shouting at each other, when he looked around, he saw nobody. The land was healthy, once again, thriving, even though no living creature appeared in his sight. 

His body felt stiff as if waking up from a hard coma. He looked around, and he found himself in a metal box, with large windows all around. He couldn't move a lot, although he didn't feel sick. Something did not permit him to do so, an unknown force. Suddenly, the familiar cage was lifted from the ground up into the azure, in a circular curve.

He looked around, on the window. There was a plentiful park on the ground with flourishing fauna, beautiful mountains, and afar, even the sight of a quiet city. Everything about his surroundings was complicated, and he began crying softly, unable to explain why. He wondered why nobody was around, why he was riding a Ferris wheel alone, why he felt such weird and aching nostalgia. Somewhere, in the distance, a river and a spark of color. 

A human. Maria. Maria was crossing a river.

"Maria! Maria!" shouted Shadow, without any hopes of being heard.

Maria crossed the sparkling river and emerged into a dark forest, unable to be seen by Shadow's eye again. Wherever he looked, he saw nobody, just the Metropolis city, just a planet at peace, and he felt profound loneliness engulf him, hurting his heart. He placed one hand on his chest as if trying to prevent the pain from growing within him.

The wheel was becoming immense. It was as if you could see the whole universe from it, but Shadow refused to look down, fearing that the sight would cause him more further suffering. 

He asked himself if and why life ceased in this world.

He looked and saw a neighboring cabin in front of him. There was a blue hedgehog within it, and it seemed to be Sonic. Shadow saw how the blue hedgehog was looking down on the window, at the bottom of the massive Ferris wheel.

Sonic was laughing hard. Soon, it appeared as if his muzzle was going to snap out of place.

* * *

Shadow opened his eyes.

"F- FUCK FUCK!" shouted Shadow, emerging naked from his duvet. He instantly got up and started shivering, pacing around his room. He touched the fur on his face and his muzzle and realized that he had been crying. Everything about the dream felt so real yet so abstract. 

"S-Shit, fuck, fuck you. FUCK YOU!" he screamed at the window, as the heavy metal sound of the Ferris wheel, far away, overwhelmed him.

"Why was it so loud!? It had never been this loud before!" he asked himself. 

The floor and the walls were vibrating. It was as if a dangerous earthquake was about to start. As if the room was about to fall on himself altogether.

"What the fuck was that?!" he screamed as he looked into the darkness to see a spark radiating. A golden glimmer that dissipated quickly the moment Shadow noticed it. A few more reappeared, then disappeared, in his sight. He closed his eyes, placed his hand on his chest, just like before, and took a few breaths to calm down and rest his mind.

The nightmare, the aggressive and unreal noise, the bright, fiery sparks were all familiar. It was all like a hallucination. 

Yes.

Chaos energy. Chaos energy surrounded him. He had managed to produce chaos energy in a world that would not allow it to exist. 

Yes. 

The symptoms were clear to him now. They included, but were not limited to, vivid dreams, lighting, hallucinations, and, most importantly, a certain feeling of power, of rapture, of playing chance in your favor.

"But how? And how could I reproduce it?" he asked himself. 

His case needed urgent investigation, he thought. He was determined to report it to somebody who was much more versed in chaos physics than he was. Therefore, he concluded that he needed to go to Miles Prower, at once, and tell him what happened. A mobian that produced chaos energy was a breakthrough nowadays.

It could have been like 8 in the morning, which Shadow deemed was quite early. It wasn't very polite to knock at somebody's door at this hour. He had no other choice, as he thought it an emergency. 

"Heck, if it means that chaos energy can be produced on demand, I would even allow the fox to dissect my body! Everything! Everything it takes!" he exclaimed.

He dressed up quickly and left in an instant.

* * *

Sonic was running away, freely. His hand was bleeding, although insignificantly. He deemed that it wasn't that dangerous to continue going. 

But where was he going to go, anyway?

He couldn't look at his friends in the eyes, not after the humiliation he had endured in front of them, not after what he said to them. To be offered chaos energy freely, and to hurt yourself with it! He knew it too well that chaos energy never operated in the ways you don't desire, although it may act in ways you do not intend.

He intended to hurt himself, but he would never, ever, consciously do that, matter not the self-loathing. 

"It seems that chaos is here to do it for me, huh," he said to himself.

He had fucked up, he was fucked up, and he wanted a hit. He wanted to feel high, to feel stress-free, he thought. But first, he needed to pee. He stopped by the road and looked around to confirm that there was nobody nearby. 

"And even if there is, what's the matter? Certainly, people must have seen more fucked up things than a hedgehog dick," he said to himself.

He placed himself in the corner of the street and pulled out his member to do his business. His bladder was starting to free itself as he looked on the ground, only to notice a small plastic bag. 

It was upon closer inspection that he observed a white powder within it, and the hedgehog snapped.

He ran as fast as he could to get the bag, but as he chased it, it moved away, as if pulled by a strong wind. The more he ran, the faster the plastic container moved away from him.

He sprinted with despair until his head met the chest of a certain green hedgehog, then he fell on the ground. Sonic found himself in a dark street's dead end. As he got up, he noticed the figure before him dressed in torn jeans, a leather jacket, and a dirty T-shirt. 

It was Scourge, and he was carrying the plastic bag in his hand. It had all been a ploy, Sonic realized.

"H-hey dude, Scourge, haven't seen you in a while!" said Sonic.

"Not interested," said Scourge, while staring down at the blue hedgehog's crotch.

Sonic looked down to see that his dick was still out of his jeans.

"D-Damn!" he shouted, embarrassed, and quickly pulling it back in, zipping his pants. "I-I... not what it looks like, Scourge! I was - You jus' caught me off guard!"

"But you do seem interested in some I do have! Phahaha, who would have thought! Renowned, international hero. Mister worldwide person! Glad to meet ya again, hedgie, on the same grounds, this time!" said Scourge, displaying his trademark shark smile and laughing, plastic bag in hand.

"W-What do you me-"

"Pfff hahaha! Don't take me for a fucking fool, son. You seem pretty interested in this bag of heroin, ain't it?!"

"So, it's- That's- Look, Scourge. Selling drugs in a world badly underwhelmed, dealing with trauma, loss, and depression - I mean, jus' miserable and all, isn't the nicest thing! Saw the bag, though it was drugs, wanted to take it someplace and burn it, is all!" explained Sonic.

Scourge smiled, exhibiting his uneven teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, burn it and all. If that's what ya want, I'll burn it for you!" said the green hedgehog, pulling out a lighter from the jeans and bringing the flame close to the bag. Sonic's heart sunk, and his eyes frowned in desperation.

"W-wait! Wait a minute!" shouted Sonic.

"Hahahahahaha! I'm dying! God, you're killing me! You're just a sucker, Sonic. Why not admit it?! You're a junkie!" laughed Scourge as he put away the flame and the lighter back into his pocket.

"N-no! I was jus' - I don't know, isn't that toxic!? Won't it explode?"

"So, like, better give it to ya to take 'care' of it!? Agree!? Hey, why the fuck you scouring that medical cabinet full of drugs?! I had to change where I stashed them because of you. Glad you stole like 1% of what I have, so no hard feelings, to be honest!" responded Scourge.

Sonic froze in place, unmasked in a most humiliating way. He stood quietly and watched the green hedgehog, not knowing what to say anymore.

"Well? Cat got your tongue?!" asked Scourge, his smile, and enthusiasm overflowing. Sonic had no other choice but to admit the truth, shamefully, he thought.

"Scourge, look- Yeah, I'm a fucking junkie! But you know why?! Cause I got nothin' to live for, and I am desperate for a hit! You don't think you can share?! I have nowhere else to get this from!"

"For free? What do I look like, a pharmacy for those in need?!"

"What does that even mean? Green, I'm serious! I'm starving for it!"

"Got any money?! 500 bucks each."

"What? What's money gunna do? Scourge, we're living the fucking apocalypse! What, like, are you like going to go to the grocery store and up and buy things?! There's no grocery store anymore! The cashier's in the gutter! What the fuck!?"

"Fuck, I'm not taking blowjobs from you. Not gay or anything like that."

"I wasn't gunna offer that! Damn, don't you have some errands to do, some chores?" asked Sonic.

"Like what, kill somebody? Kill your family!"

"Scourge..." Sonic looked at the ground with shame and hurt.

Scourge crossed his arms for a moment, then stared long at the frantic and hopeless hedgehog standing before him. The sight was extremely pleasing for him. He relished in the image of Sonic's torn figure.

"Cause I see you so cute and desperate, I'll give you a bag if you gimmie your claws, just one hand. Say the left one, unless you're like a leftie or such!" requested Scourge, chuckling.

"My- My claws?! What?!" Sonic swallowed. 

"Yeah. I collect mobian claws. The whole claw, not just the friggin' nail."

"W-What are you even doing with that?!"

"Nuffin' Just collecting them. Like, everyone needs a hobby, ain't it?!"

"Are you serious!? How am I even supposed to pull my-"

Scourge pulled out a pair of weird-looking medical pliers from his leather jacket and stared at Sonic.

* * *

"Ahh! GOD DAMN, THIS FUCKING HURTS!" screamed the blue hedgehog as he clenched tight on the arm of his left hand, as though he could stop the pain from reaching forward, through his arm, and into the brain. 

Where once were claws, now there were bloody, repulsive craters. The blood from Sonic's claw's sockets was dripping freely on the ground as he kneeled in pain next to it, unable to stand on his two feet. Sonic frowned hard at the green hedgehog, who was grinning at him widely. Scourge was carrying two bags, one in each hand, one containing the blue hedgehog's bloodied claws and the other, the valuable bag of heroin.

"Damn, did know you became' such a fucking wuss!" shouted Scourge

"Fuck you! You better have anything to patch me up, you lil' shit!" demanded Sonic.

"Not my problem, buddy," said Scourge, in a most indifferent tone.

"Course' it's your problem, 'buddy'! Gaw! This fucking hurts so much!" screamed Sonic as he twisted his stare at the gruesome holes in his fingers.

"Alright, alright! Calm the fuck down! Imma give you somethin' but not cause' I like you. Jus' so you stop screaming like a bitch."

Scourge pulled down the backpack he had on himself and scoured its contents to find a small box with a blue cross inscribed on it. He took it out and threw it so hard and the suffering blue hedgehog, so aimlessly, that it almost hit his head. 

Sonic jumped on it, opening it eagerly, looking at its contents. On one side, there was a bandage roll, and on the other, there was a bottle of medicinal alcohol. The blue hedgehog promptly unrolled the bandage and started cutting bits of it with his teeth, then put the pieces back in the box for further use. He took the bottle of spirits and poured it over the sockets where the claws once were. He yelled as much as his lungs and throat would permit. He brushed away the shock and the horrible hurt and bandaged his fingers, one by one, scowling harder and harder after each.

After finishing, he lay there, still kneeling, waiting for his mental recovery. Seconds later, he stood up, looking at his feet to see if they could firmly support him. He moved his eyes to Scourge, let out a deep breath, arms crossed on chest, waiting for his prize.

"Well? Gonna keep the end of the bargain or not, motherfucker?!" asked Sonic, frowning with boiling rage.

"Sure, sure, hedgie!" exclaimed Scourge as he threw the bag of heroin in the air. The blue hedgehog eagerly caught it, hands trembling on it. He opened it and sniffed a bit, and, in an instant, turned back to the green hedgehog with a grave expression.

"Is this heroin, Scourge? Cause' ya know... Doesn't smell like it..."

"Yeah! Sure it is."

Scourge looked at the hedgehog, his smile widening until he couldn't choke his own laughter anymore. Failing to do so, he burst into a chuckle that soon enough turned into a full-blown hysterical laugh.

"What the actual fuck?!" yelled Sonic.

"It's just flour! You stupid fucking shit! Didn't you even check if it smelled right!? Damn, Sonic! I knew you were fucking stupid but didn't think you're that much of an idiot. Not that much! Aghahahaha! Thinking I would give you a bag of heroin, a whole fucking bag, for your damn claws! You're really didn't think-"

Green's maniacal diatribe and laughter were promptly interrupted by a fist in his neck that cut away his power to breathe. He had become so enveloped in himself, so interested in making a show in front of the blue hedgehog that he couldn't even bother to check if Sonic would launch an unexpected attack on him. Before he could defend himself, or even move, Sonic griped Scourge's head with his unwounded arm, digging its claws into his fur, and pushed it, with all the force he could muster, into the wall next to him. 

He kept smashing the hedgehog's head, without any semblance of mercy, while roaring like a rabid animal. He repeated the horrible motion until Scourge's muzzle was fully covered in blood, some from the deep wounds from his head and forehead, some from the strikes in his teeth.

"N-no, So-S Snic'. Please!" gathered Scourge to squeak before spitting blood and a tooth on the ground. 

Sonic's fit of powerful anger wasn't so easily quenched, his cruelty continued. He couldn't even hear. He saw red remaining unfazed by the hedgehog's cries and pleadings.

When he felt his arm tired, the pain in his left hand's fingers returning, he stopped. Sonic gave up his clench and let Scourge fall to the ground. The green hedgehog got up on his feet, facing away from Sonic while bleeding badly. He moved a few steps, vomited, moved another few steps, and then collapsed on the ground.

Sonic looked at him, breathing heavily, all of the veins in his arms ready to explode. When he came to his senses, and his rage disappeared, he didn't know what time it was, whether it was day or night. He breathed heavily, his hand splattered with Scourge's blood.

He quickly realized what he had done. Sonic shouted and ran to the collapsed hedgehog, whose head was turned to the ground, and a small pool of blood had accumulated underneath it. 

"No- no, no, no! When did this go awry!? Scourge! What the FUCK have I done?!" he shouted as he kneeled next to the green hedgehog. He turned him around and cried in horror when he observed the mess that had become his face. He placed his ear on the Green's chest and listened. He quickly acknowledged that the hedgehog was still breathing.

"Damn! Scourge! What the FUCK have I done to ya?!" he shouted as he reached towards the first aid kit that was still lying on the ground, that the hedgehog had thrown to him. 

Sonic heard the green hedgehog speak, squeaky, harsh, and hushed while coughing up blood.

"S-Sonic... F-fucker!"

"B-buddy. Didn't mean to..." 

Sonic was weeping as he reached out for the bandages and the flask of medicinal alcohol. He dripped some of the alcohol on the bandages and proceeded to rub Scourge's wounds, his hands shaking, his tears disturbing him, in the process, choking him. The green hedgehog didn't growl at the pain caused by the rubbing.

"D-don't bother. I'm gonna d-die. W-whatever..."

"F-fu - no! I didn't - I didn't want to mess you up that - badly, buddy. Oh, gawd! I'm fucking sorry I am so fucking sorry so fucking sorry so fucking -" cried Sonic.

"G- go. Go in my bag - my backpack. There's an n- Aggh! Stop with the fucking alcohol, idiot! It doesn't do anything! It's in my bag-"

"What?! What's in your bag?! Scourge!"

Scourge fainted. Sonic deemed that it was from all the bleeding. He continued patching his head but was unable to put an end to the gushing from all the wounds he had inflicted upon him. His voice was sinking in tears.

Sonic reached up Green's backpack, which had fallen on the floor during the fight. He scoured within it, up and down, not knowing what he was searching for. He was desirous as he still couldn't believe he had taken the life of another mobian. Giving up, he scattered the contents of the bag on the floor, and a shiny necklace fell from it. The blue hedgehog looked at it and realized that there was a small wheel hiding within it. 

"Th-this looks like..."

The wheel was moving slowly. Sonic knew what it was. It wasn't anything expensive, an old souvenir that used to be sold cheaply at a boutique in funfairs. He had not seen one in a very long time.

The wheel was spinning by itself as Sonic felt nauseated when staring at it. He felt dizzy, hypnotized. It started revolving faster, ready to snap out of its joints. So fast, in fact, was it twirling that it became like a ring of light just like before, at home, with Tails' experiment, Sonic thought.

"Yes... That means..."

That means that someone was pulling chaos energy out of it, thought Sonic.

The wheel caught fire, and a small, sparkly electrical explosion emerged from it. Sonic noticed that a shadow had eclipsed him, blocking all light. He looked up from the ground and stared at the silhouette before him. 

It was Scourge, standing on his two feet, hungry for blood, his expression contorted, teeth exposed in a trademark shark smile.

* * *

"N-no! Sonic! Fuck! What the fuck happened to you?!" shouted Shadow, running fast enough to make scratches into the ground, his blue-furred friend locked into his arms. 

Sonic was a mess, barely breathing, groaning, and moaning from time to time. He was bleeding from his arms and badly from his head. Shadow did not even have on himself the tools to patch him up and was uncertain that a superficial first-aid would be very beneficial. 

Sonic's prospects were grim, Shadow thought, but he had to keep his composure, or otherwise, everything would go to hell, and the blue hedgehog would surely die. Maybe there was still a chance, and the wounds were more superficial than they seemed, Shadow hoped.

"Who did this to you?! WHO THE FUCK!?" yelled Shadow, securing Sonic better in his embrace as his speed increased. He was jogging fast to Tails as it was the closest house he knew, and maybe the fox could come up with a solution better than he, with his relatively good medical expertise, could muster.

Maybe he had better tools or devices.

Maybe.


	9. Swimming

  
"So, it could do with more sugar, and the aroma is pretty weak. I think you didn't infuse it enough, Amy!" said Silver to the pink hedgehog as he sipped from his cup of hot tea. He was trying to recreate a cozy autumnal fantasy into his imagination to hinder the stressful emotions that were endangering his tranquility. But the tea's lack of fragrance wasn't supporting his cause.

"Where could he be?! We've searched everywhere?! Guys! Silver, Amy- This is really scary!" said Tails, panicking. He was digging through his claws with his fangs, so much that minuscule cracks appeared through them, feeling guilt smother his words and thoughts. He could hear his heart beat so vigorously into his chest that he feared it would eventually burst out of his chest and fling through the window. 

"Tails, I know Sonic's behaving crazily lately, but we need to keep calm. We've literally searched for him, up and down, everywhere! Maybe he's just taking a walk, and he'll come back when he's in better shape..." responded Amy, trying to calm the fox down. She eventually deemed that her struggles were in vain as the kitsune kept pacing around rapidly, from one corner to another of the room. 

"Chaos rejected him! There's something wrong with his head! Maybe he needs a shrink or something! This is usually a bad sign!" said Silver, unaware that his predictions were affecting Tails' attempt to operate his emotions.

"You don't say. Sonic's always evading me and avoiding my questions. I ask him all the time why he's so mad or why he is so sad, but he keeps avoiding me..." said Tails, ready to burst into tears, looking down at the ground, his pacing coming to a halt.

"Tails... Sonic's a pretty strong mobian! I'm pretty sure he'll manage just fine. I think we all need a shrink after the experience with the war, Silver. Maybe he just needs time to recover!" spoke Amy, trying to address everyone's concern.

A desperate knock. All four of them turned and gazed at the door, terrified and with disturbing expectations. Another knock interrupted their confusion, and when it turned into a punch, they all sprang at it. 

"W-What the!?" yelled Tails, heart at his neck.

He swiftly attended to the door, and the instant he opened it, Shadow barged in with Sonic in his arms. Tails shrieked at the sight of his brother's limp and badly hurt body. Silver and Amy froze in place at the picture.

"T-Tails! Everyone! We need to stop his bleeding, fast! He-s -" yelled Shadow.

"Put him on the ground! Now!" shouted Tails as he urgently moved towards the basement to bring some medical supplies, already grappling with his tears. Shadow put his friend down on the floor, and the three of them quickly attended to him, kneeling next to him, uncertain of what to do.

"W-what the fuck?! What happened!? Shadow! Who did-" screamed Silver, trembling from all of his joints. 

"I don't know, okay! I found him lying on the ground, almost dead! He's barely breathing. He's choking with blood! We need to get a small straw to-" yelled Shadow.

"No! Stop the bleeding at the head! He's losing too much blood-" jumped Amy.

Tails returned with anything his untrained arms could carry from the basement and threw them next to him as he was struggling to control his crying and spams of shock.

"No-! No, this isn't real! No, this can't fucking be real!" cried the kitsune while in the mids of a convulsive panic attack. 

"Tails, do you have anything like a straw!? We need to pull the blood from-" begged Shadow, but was swiftly interrupted by an ominous yet girly tone.

"He'll die. There's no question about it! We need to use Chaos energy now! Tails! The wheel! Bring the fucking wheel! Fast!" urged Amy.

"W-What?!" snarled Shadow, perplexed. 

"Damn, what the fuck are they up to?! Sonic's dying! They better not do anything stupid. Chaos energy?! Did they manage to reproduce Chaos-" thought the ebony hedgehog, but even his grave worries dissolved into a pool of confusion.

The kitsune hurriedly brought the Ferris replica plate closer to Sonic's body, almost slipping and falling with it into his arms.

"Let's go! Guys help me, too!" shouted Amy.

"It may be too much for all the three of you!" exclaimed Tails.

"Too much, what?! What's going on?!" asked Shadow, greatly disconcerted.

"We don't have time to explain! Silver, give me your hand!" shouted Amy.

"Yes! Let's do this!" said Silver as he confidently interlaced his fingers into her's, locking them within a sturdy grip.

"Chaos, help us. I pray to you!" begged Amy. She closed her eyes and began imagining a current of bright energy flowing into her and Silver, entering from her forehead and exiting from her hands, directly into Sonic. She visualized how the light shaped itself like a soft cashmere blanket, enveloping Sonic's hurt body, caressing him, invigorating him. At first, Amy felt discomfort, as if someone was performing acupuncture on her, small needles entering and exiting her skin. Her quills perked up on her skin. Although it wasn't outrageously uncomfortable at first, the vibrations she felt quickly turned into vigorous pulsations.

"No! No! Don't panic! I need to stay calm, focused! For Sonic!" she said to herself.

She continued to envision how the blanket entered Sonic's body, overlapping with him, closing the wounds in his skin, making him choke out the excessive blood, and growing and regenerating tissue where needed, in his head, in his hands. Immediately, Sonic's body began levitating, and the wheel spun intensely as the blue hedgehog's eyes opened. Sonic choked violently, spilling blood from his mouth. In mere moments, the wounds in his hands and head mended as if in a fast-forward timelapse of a long healing process. His fur grew again where it has previously been. 

"I-Impossible. This is - chaos energy!" exclaimed Shadow, pointing at the hedgehog's floating body, mouth agape.

Amy heard a voice deep in her head. With it came an unfathomably deep sadness, pain, and longing. She wanted to cry but refused to, as that would unfocus her. She tried to scan for the source of her unfamiliar feelings but found no reasoning within herself. Thus, Rose concluded that the sinister sentiments were arriving from an external source, namely Sonic. She asked herself if this was how Sonic was feeling on a daily basis. "This must be terrible..." she said to herself.

"I need to make sure to stay focused! I need to make sure to stay fucking focused! He needs to heal properly- he needs to heal properly! He nee-" 

Her thoughts were interrupted. The voice became more potent.

"A-Amy? What did you s-say?" asked Silver.

Amy wanted to speak, but her muzzle would only drool. "A-a..."

"Something's wrong! Guys! Somethings wrong!" shouted Tails.

Sonic was gasping furiously. He clasped his hands around his neck in an attempt to escape the suffocation, but to no avail. The blue hedgehog was experiencing deep pain in his chest, as though a burden was insistently pressing against his lungs. Finally, another deep pang of pain hit him, this time all around his body and members.

"I can't breathe - I - agh!" groaned Sonic in his suspended state.

"I think - I see -" Amy said whispered.

"What's happening?! Amy!?" screeched Silver and Shadow in tandem, horrified at the sight of Blue's suffering.

"Chaos - Chaos is... rejecting... him," concluded Amy, painfully.

The wheel began sending sparks, crashing out, and starting to cause a flame against the plate and, in turn, against the ground. Soon enough, the object was in flames burning the ground beneath to a crisp.

"No! No! We're killing him!" screamed Silver in despair, clenching his eyelids to keep them closed and focused.

Tails searched around for a bucket of water and a bunch of rags to put down the fire before everything burned around it. The fox quickly found out the objects lying around and placed the wet rags into the wheel. Unfortunately, the flame grew bigger.

"Hah. You want to die. That's it. I get it." said Amy, smirking and eyes shut, moving swiftly behind her eyelids.

"A-Amy?! I'm feeling very hot! It's - What are you doing? It's t-to much energy..." said Silver, still with his eyes shut, trying his best to keep the energy within him and not let himself detonate. 

"Well, Sonic, frankly speaking, I don't really give a shit. You'll live. I don't care what it takes. I'm keeping you alive." said Amy.

"Amy?! What's going on?!" asked Shadow. 

Tails finally managed to put down the fire a bit, continuing to throw rags on the wheel as an abrupt and horrifying mechanical noise struck the fox. He placed his hands around his ears to block away from the thunderous, heavy sound. 

"T-that sounds exactly like that morning today. It's the wheel. The Ferris wheel." noticed Shadow. "But how come it sounds so strongly from here?"

Tails looked outside the window and saw a thing resembling a flame in the distance.

"T-The Ferris wheel in the park... A-Amy! What the fuck! You're pulling energy from-" Tails was interrupted by an earthquake. All objects in the room moved frantically in the wake of the quake. The kitsune leaned on the wall and screeched aghastly. 

"A-Amy. I'm feeling..." said Silver, in his trance.

"I don't care if you want to die. I just DON'T CARE! I don't give a SHIT! I'll take the whole FUCKING world down if it means keeping you alive! I'll rip holes in reality! Chaos control!" shouted Amy, enraged at the hedgehog's prospect, which he brought upon himself.

"W-What the fuck?!" screamed Shadow.

Tails felt as if the earthquake was going to pull the walls from their place. The fox still held to the wall for dear life. Shadow looked in awe at the two hedgehogs before him as white flames submerged Amy and Silver, their fur, spotless white.

"You... you're Super... you turned Super! How are you doing this!?" asked Shadow, completely mesmerized. 

Sonic grunted in pain, frozen and suspended in the middle of the room, half-aware of his surroundings.

"I see... So you want to see Shadow?" uttered Amy as if talking to someone.

Amy took Shadow's hand, and the ebony hedgehog felt as if a truck hit him. The amount of energy that was entering himself was impossible to comprehend, he thought. He felt sick, dizzy, entranced. Reality itself was breaking away at the seams as every piece of his body throbbed.

* * *

"A-aaagh!" screamed Shadow.

He opened his eyes. 

He saw nothing at first, but then images slowly and shyly formed. He gazed at the blue, clear azure and the scorching, blinding sun. His fur felt its intensity to the fullest. 

He stood on a small shore. He looked before him to observe a large body of water, a crystal transparent sea, stretching to nowhere. The air was pure and the summer warm. He was dressed in a green T-shirt and a pair of shorts and was wearing sandals. 

He wondered how he arrived here. He asked himself how come the pain from Amy's touch dissipated so swiftly, and where did it go. He concluded that he must experience a dream or a hallucination, but he couldn't pinpoint who the dreamer was, as the happening already felt independent of him.

"W-wha, wha, what are ya screaming for?! What did ya see?!" asked Sonic.

Shadow turned around to see the blue hedgehog, dressed casually and summerly, look at him with both curiosity and fright. He appeared somewhat more youthful than in his real, levitating, and suffocating state, Shadow thought.

"S-Sonic? Sonic?!" questioned Shadow, unclear about his surroundings and uncertain of the character standing before him. He asked himself if he was actually communicating with the blue hedgehog or merely imagined.

"Y-yeah? None other? W-what's wrong, Shads? What the hell happened to you?"

Shadow looked at Sonic wide and deep, observing his shorts, his T-shirt, and the sandals hinged in the burning sand of the shore, his experience of the blue hedgehog brimming with vividness and genuineness. 

"Sonic!? Sonic, come back, please! I was stupid to leave you alone, alright!? I thought you'd be alright, with your acquaintances, or friends, or whatever! I thought you despised me! And if you do, whatever, I won't talk to you again. Please, snap out!" pleaded Shadow, nearing the dream character.

"Shads, what the heck happened!? Calm down, please! You're scaring me, God damn!?" shouted Sonic, as he approached the trembling ebony hedgehog and placed a hand on his arm to lull his panic away. 

Shadow said nothing and simply observed his friend. "Where am I? What is this? Why am I on a beach with Sonic? Am I in Sonic's mind?" Shadow asked himself.

"Despise you? I mean, I kind of hate the bet I made and everything! Told ya, I could buy you a pack of cigars or a cake or whatever you enjoy instead. A book? Do you want a book?" suggested Sonic.

"W-What?!" shouted Shadow in confusion to the uncanny response. He felt as if he intervened during the scene of a movie without comprehending anything about its plot.

Sonic looked at the ebony hedgehog, confused and worried as well.

"Shadow - is there anything wrong with your head? Need a shrink?" continued the blue hedgehog.

"M-my head?" asked Shadow, slightly embracing the possibility that something had gone awry with his mental faculties.

"This must be some sort of shared... experience?" Shadow pondered. Although everything around himself seemed real and truthful, he deemed that he was experiencing Amy's doing and her incredible surge of Chaos energy. He considered that she might have constructed a channel to communicate to Sonic in some form. Shadow kneeled and touched the grass at his feet, combined with sand. 

It felt as real as it could be.

"Sonic, I think this is a dream. Or a shared dream. Or whatever, and you're not aware. Look, you're dreaming, and you need to wake up. I found you on the streets! You were almost about to -"

"Aghahaha, what the hell? Nice try, Shads. That won't make water touch me. Good story, though." said Sonic.

"Water?!"

"Shadow, I think we should go home or whatever. I'm not sure if I can do the skinny dipping thing. It was a stupid bet, okay?!" requested Sonic.

"The- the what?" 

Shadow was trying to piece together the plot from its fragments. He thought briefly about what Sonic was saying and decided to listen closely for further hints, concluding that the key of whatever was occurring must lie in Sonic's beliefs, in that instant of time.

"The bet? Shadow, do you have amnesia or what? Again?" asked Sonic, with a confused frown on his face.

Shadow did not know what to say. He had to think. Everything about the experience felt oddly real, even though nothing was adding up. Had he been hallucinating the last years? The war? Sonic taking heroin? Chaos energy disappearing from Mobius? Amy causing this experience?

"No. Impossible. Let's apply Occam's Razor. We have two explanations: the first one involving hallucinating for a long time. The entropy of that is very high, meaning that I can remember a great number of events from that period. Because of that, this seems unlikely to be true. The second explanation involves Amy becoming Superhedgehog and constructing this experience to allow me to communicate to Sonic, possibly convincing him to expel the chaos energy that was killing him. Although this also seems - strange, if the second explanation is true, then I must make haste!" Shadow thought.

He moved around for a bit, getting farther from Sonic, jogging in circles, taking in the heated air, trying to test the limits of the newfound reality. Finally, he sat on the ground, staring at the quiet sea.

"Yes," responded Shadow.

"What?! Are you serious? Should we go see a doctor, or?" asked Sonic, with a deep frown of concern about his ebony friend. 

"No. I do that sometimes. It's documented by GUN, too. I sometimes lose previous information, although rarely. It is completely safe, however, since the memory loss is rare and not lengthy, Faker." explained Shadow

"Really? This - ain't some bullshit you made up, right now?" questioned Sonic.

"No, Faker. I do remember us having a bet, although I don't remember what it had to do with." Shadow lied.

"We raced around Green Hill, and you won. We made a bet. That's all, I think?" said Sonic while looking down at his feet.

"And what was that bet about?"

"Well, you said that if I won, you would let me take your motorcycle for a month. I said that if you won, I would buy you a book or anything you'd like."

"That is not true."

"What do you mean? How do you know? I thought you had amnesia."

Shadow knew that the blue hedgehog was lying. What he said when they first met on the shore didn't add up. What about him detesting large bodies of water?

"I do, but I do remember that it had to do with swimming. You mentioned it a couple of times, right now. I wanted you to swim or at least go in a larger body of water. It must be the reason why we are at this sea, right?"

"Shads... I was an idiot, okay?"

"Well, is it not true, then?"

"Yeah, I said I'd go skinny dipping with you..." Sonic said as he pulled on his spikes.

Shadow laughed. He thought that the situation was quite absurd, although he deemed that he needed to play along. The ebony patted a spot next to him on the ground, gesturing for Sonic to sit next to him. Sonic got the signal and complied unconfidently. Back hunched and quills lowered, he walked up the ebony hedgehog as if in defeat. Then, he sat cross-legged next to Shadow, gazing at the sea and its low waves. 

"Since when have you become so friendly, anyway?" asked Sonic.

"Nevermind that. Why are you so frightened of water? You never told me, Faker."

"Well, I... fell into a large river and almost drowned when I was a pup. That's about it. A wolf was fishing next to it, and he saw me. He pulled me out of the water." explained Sonic, briefly and gravely, gaping in the distance.

"Large rivers are one thing, but this sea seems calm. I don't think there's any rational reason to be afraid of it," said Shadow, in an attempt to lul Sonic's fear, convinced that a few sentences wouldn't be enough to settle his phobia.

"Y-yeah, but you never know when a wave is gonna splash and pull us within it." said Sonic, as he fidgeted and crossed his hands, trying to justify his fear.

"Sea waves don't work like that, Faker. There's no wind. I don't think a tornado is just up and appear in the sky. Correct?"

"What about an earthquake? What if we get a tsunami, just like we see all the time on TV?"

"Chances are very slim. Tsunamis are very infrequent, too. Do you encounter tsunamis on a daily basis, hedgehog?"

"Well, how should I know? I don't go to the sea too much," explained Sonic.

They sat like that for a while, not saying anything.

"Well, then, hedgehog, a bet is a bet," said Shadow said as he stood up and began removing his T-shirt. After finishing taking it off, he moved to his shorts. Sonic stared.

"Wha, wha, wha! Are we jus' going to get naked in public like that?!" asked Sonic.

Shadow had taken off his shorts, nonchalantly, remaining stark naked, only his ebony fur and spikes covering his body in the sun. When he realized what he was looking at, Sonic immediately faced the other way, embarrassed.

"Yeah? We're going for a swim, right? Besides, I see no public, and I'm good at observing when someone is spying on me."

"Shadow! What if Amy sees us? She'll take pics and videos and upload them to MobiusNet! We'll appear in the goddamn newspaper! What if there are paparazzi around? What if there's - girls around?"  
  
"There is nobody. Moreover, I don't think Amy would do such a thing," said Shadow as he was about to dive into the sea. 

"Course she is! She's evil!" shouted Sonic at Shadow.

Shadow departed and jumped into the cold and crips water. He felt a thrust of frost in his back and jumped internally. "Dammit, even the sea feels and looks so real. How are you doing this, Amy?! Did you create a dream or a whole one to one replica of reality?!" Shadow thought to himself, troubled.

"Neah, she'll put her life on the line for you. I'm pretty sure she would!" shouted Shadow at his blue friend, who was still standing on the beach, curled, looking somewhere else.

"That's a... weird thing to say..." spoke Sonic, whispering, mostly to himself.

"Hey! Are you going in or not?!" demanded Shadow, shouting to the flustered ball that was Sonic, hunched on the lonely shore.

"Hell, no! I'm not!" shouted Sonic back.

"Faker, not keeping a promise to me is a capital offense!" yelled Shadow as he moved towards the blue hedgehog to pull him into the sea, by force if necessary.

"A-And what are you gonna do if I don't?!" teased the blue hedgehog, uncertain on himself.

"End our friendship, of course!"

"F-Friendship?! You never said that before! You always said we weren't fri-"

"We make bets and race together, of course, we fucking are!" shouted Shadow, who approached Sonic and pulled him by the arms with strength into the sea. "Faker, what kind of hero doesn't keep their promises?!"

"C-cmon, Shads, is jus' a stupid bet! Why do you insist so much?!" yelled Sonic as he pulled away from Shadow. The ebony hedgehog was dragging him closer and closer to the water. The closer Sonic became to it, the more he trembled and complained, the heavier was Shadow's pull.

"It isn't just a bet, Faker! It has to do with fighting your goddamn fears, or at least making an effort and giving a shit!"

"N-not that fear! There's nothing fun about it, Shads! Damn! Stop dragging me, cause' you're hurting my arms!" shouted Sonic, almost in tears of distraught, ready to enter full panic. 

"Okay, but go into the sea already! You're starting to become a bore! Look, Faker, the water doesn't even reach my neck, and I'm far in it." explained Shadow, as he walked away from Sonic and into the sea to prove the water's safety. 

"See? You can't even drown even if you wanted to!" shouted the ebony hedgehog from a bit further into the sea, his hands pointing to the contour between the water and his fur.

Sonic stared at him and stayed quiet.

"Just once, okay? We go just once, and then we can do something else." pleaded Shadow.

"O-ok..." said Sonic, looking down. He took off his sandals, his T-shirt in a slow fashion, without any passion. He then began working on taking off his shorts when he noticed that the ebony hedgehog was still not bothering to look away.

"C-can you at least not stare, idiot?!" demanded Sonic, flustered beneath his fur.

"Why?! What's there to hide? I am a male, too. I've got a d-"

"Y-yeah but, you know, privacy?!" he yelled, ashamed of the overall situation. He hated the bet he made, more than earlier.

"All right, miss. If you're such a prude I'll look away. You know, I won't be able to see anything if you're in the water." commented Shadow, as he turned away from Sonic and faced the horizon.

Sonic took off his shorts and looked around, scanning to see if someone was watching him. With his heart up in his neck, he moved sluggishly towards the sea, with much apprehension, barely looking at the water closely, with meek steps. When the cold water touched his feet, he felt his fur and spikes jump straight on his skin. Immediately, he experienced difficulties with his breathing as the water enveloped his back and crouch. He noticed the small and inoffensive wobbles pulling him back and forth in the water, in a gentle rhythm. The more the wobbles seeped through him, the more disorganized and upset he became.

"D-damn! This is cold..." he complained.

"It's not that cold once you get used to it. Can I look now?"

"Y-yeah..."

Shadow turned to Sonic. He saw the blue hedgehog tremble, with his arms crossed against his chest. Sonic was struggling to control his breathing, seemingly about to break into a fit of crying, quills spread apart and wet. 

"Panicked already?" asked Shadow.

"A bit."

"A bit? You look like you're about to die."

"M-maybe I am," said Sonic, shivering, stammering, crossing his arms.

"Can you come over here? Where I stand?" asked Shadow.

"W-waters a bit too high t-there... I don't think so. Waves fuck me up. Sorry - the language, b-but I'm a bit - I don't like it." pleaded Sonic.

"What waves? Water's still, and it comes up my chest. It's not deep at all."

"It's not still, Shads! It wobbles!" screeched the hedgehog, in pain.

"That's because it's a sea, hedgehog!" yelled Shadow, about to chuckle.

Sonic dragged his feet forward, noticing how the level of the water increased. When it reached a bit above his belly, he stopped. He felt frost around his quills. He looked up at the pristine sky, wanting to avoid the sight of his body in the sea, in dispair. He imagined how the sea was unceremoniously going to swallow him altogether, whole. He thought about how suffocating death by drowning must feel like, how inescapable, how painful. He couldn't keep his breath in control anymore. His lungs spun out of control, tears of fright inundating his eyes, falling slowly. 

He felt a fur touch his hand, and he snapped.

"S-Stop! Shadow! Fuck this! Fuck you!" he shouted.

"N-no, take my hand. Please! I promise it's not that bad." pleaded Shadow.

The blue hedgehog intuitively gripped Shadow's hand with both of his hands, holding it with all his might. Shadow walked carefully through the sea's bottom, not to startle his friend. Sonic closed his eyes shut, diligently and slowly following the ebony hedgehog, blind, focusing for better control of his body. He felt about to explode with rage and fear. As the water increased up to his chest, he stopped, and Shadow let go of his hand.

"See? It wasn't that hard after all, hedgehog."

Shadow turned to Sonic, and the blue hedgehog broke into tears. He couldn't control his emotions anymore, feeling finally free to express them as much as he wanted.

"Fuck you! Oh god, this is so fucking cold, Shadow!" shouted Sonic, in tears.

"Who, hedgehog, relax!"

Sonic opened his watery eyes and froze. He looked back at the shore and realized how far he was from it, at least from his twisted viewpoint. 

He felt sick. He felt as if he was going to faint immediately.

"What the fuck?! Do you realize how dange-"

The hedgehog's shrieking was abruptly halted by the sudden sensation of fur around his chest and quills. Shadow unceremoniously held him in a full embrace, placing his muzzle on his shoulder while holding him somewhat tight yet comfortable, careful not to touch his crouch with his.

"Shads, what are you... what the heck are you doing?" asked Sonic, quietly, almost whispering.

"Attempting to calm you?" answered Shadow.

"Yeah, but you never..." 

Sonic never finished his statement.

"Never what?"

Sonic returned the embrace, putting his hands on the stripped hedgehog's shoulders.

"Nevermind..."

Sonic closed his eyes, trying to relax in the mild and lulling movements of the water. Although they didn't move, the hedgehog had the sensation that he was dancing with his dark friend. A veil of serenity fell onto him. They stood locked for a few full minutes before he heard Shadow whisper to him, once again.

"Relaxed a bit, hedgie? Like it more, here?" whispered Shadow.

"H-hedgie?! When did you become so - nice and all cutesy?" Sonic returned the whisper.

"Well, you did look in deep pain. But I do warn you that this is a once in a lifetime event," explained Shadow, quietly.

"Really? Once in a lifetime?"

"Not really, but it's quite rare, so take what you can get."

A few other minutes passed with the blue hedgehog entranced. In time, Sonic became fond of this combination of sensations, the sea's quiet movements, and Shadow's tight hug. He wished he could freeze the experience in time, partially because of the unnatural blissfulness and partly because of the longing to replay and rediscover Shadow's strangely nurturing side. 

He took a deep breath, and with it, the scent of his naked friend's fur. It emanated a faint perfume of tobacco and coffee. He paid attention to the warmth of his arms, distinguishing itself in the sharp cold of the sea. The fur felt soft against the quills at his back, which Sonic let down in reflex. The touch was tingling slightly. He tuned in to Shadow's quiet breathing in counterpoint with the sea's distant sounds of waves, and Sonic felt genuinely safe and extra comfortable in his embrace, his muscle losing tension, melting.

As of nowhere, a pang of desire hit Sonic in his crotch area, and he swiftly realized that their interaction became too delicate. Sonic quickly turned flustered and awkward.

"Do you mind this?"

"No... although it's a bit gay, haha!" laughed Sonic, as he pulled the embrace and struggled to regain his balance. "Don't gossip about this, please. It is a bit embarrassing. I mean hugging naked in the sea is a bit gay, not that I necessarily mind or anything! I mean, I'm open to-"

"Your fear of safe water is what's embarrassing! For an international hero, you're such a wuss sometimes. Let's swim to the shore."

"S-swim? Shadow, I told ya! I can't swim!" pleaded Sonic, returned to harsh reality.

"Try! Water's anyway too salty, and it will keep you at the surface. Just dive a bit, and if you can't, walk on the bottom just like you did!" demanded Shadow.

Sonic looked around. He fidgeted a bit, undecided if he should dive into the cold water. He reminded himself that Shadow was there, that his friend was a good swimmer, and that if anything unfortunate happened, he would come and calm him down. He replayed in his mind the moments earlier. Shadow soothing him down was utterly novel to him. He had never seen that warm side of him, ever before, he thought. He didn't believe such a thing even existed before today.

"Fine. I'll dive, but if I die, it's on you!" exclaimed Sonic.

Shadow smiled in the sun.

Sonic jumped into the water, an abrupt and striking chilly sensation encompassing his whole body, immersing deep within his fur, quills, and skin.

* * *

The blue hedgehog, fully healed, fell hard on the ground and groaned in pain as the floor hit him. After a few grunts of discomfort, he became quiet. 

The earthquake abruptly stopped, and so did the fire and the noise.

"Guys! What the fuck happened?! Sonic!" shouted Tails.

He looked at the four hedgehogs lying on the floor, all of them in a deep slumber. Amy and Silver were facing each other, sleeping quietly. Shadow was facing the wall in a fetal position. Sonic lay on his back and snorted in peace. 


	10. Maurice

  
"So, he attacked you for no reason whatsoever?!" asked Tails despairingly, struggling to choke his sobs.

"Yeah, Tails, he just came up to me behind my back and- M-maybe he wanted to steal something from me or such..." said the blue hedgehog while stuttering, exposing the uncertainty behind his words. 

Sonic dug his hand through his quills, debilitated, looking down, trying to conceal his expression from others' sights. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground while worried and skeptical eyes surrounded him. Shadow, Silver, Amy, and Tails sat on the floor with their ears perked up to hear his story. The blue hedgehog felt their judgments tall above him, looming over.

"M-my claws healed too! I guess he pulled out my claws so I couldn't hit him," explained Sonic, struggling to dodge everyone's eyes with his.

"Why is Chaos refusing you, Sonic? There's something wron-"

Tails was interrupted hastily. 

"Look, Tails. I- I think- I'm kind of depressed. I didn't want to tell you, all of you, but I no longer feel okay. No longer feel hopeful 'bout our situation. I know what ya'll gonna say, that I have a shelter and sometimes food, that other mobians are worse off, and I agree! But it still doesn't make me feel better about our situation! Maybe that's why..."

Sonic tried to play as safe as possible. He couldn't deny all aspects of his current psychological predicament, not after what all of them experienced, and judged that the best way to deal with the task of making them buy a lie is to mix it with reality. 

He wanted to enforce further his case when his breath was stopped by a sturdy grasp over his chest and around his back. The kitsune plummeted into him, digging his head into the hedgehog's chest, and wailed quietly into his fur and T-shirt while everyone stared. Sonic looked down at him, bewildered by his sudden outburst, closing his arms against the fox's head, embracing him, and using his fingers to stroke the fur at the back of his neck.

"Tails! Buddy! Calm down! I'm fin-"

"No! You're not frigging fine! You almost died because of me! It's all because of me and my fucking carelessness! Now, Chaos is rejecting you! I -" shouted Tails, his sobs escaping from Sonic's chest, unable to contain them with his strangulating squeeze.

"Cut the crap, Tails! It isn't your fault, at all! Don't ever blame yourself for my moods!" shouted Sonic, looking at his fox friend.

"Listen, Sonic! I only cared about my experiments! I never even checked if you feed yourself! I thought you felt able and ready to strike back! I jus-"

"Tails, calm yourself down! There's no reason to beat yourself down! We're all in this together, all equally responsible! The situation is complicated, and it's no one's sole fault!" intervened Amy from the corner of the room, as she and Silver stretched closer to console the crying kitsune. They both stroked the back of his figure, which was glued to the blue hedgehog's chest.

Shadow sat in the corner and watched their interaction as if it was a play in a theatre, distant and confused. None of the events of the day glimmered of any form of comprehensivity. Deep down, it frustrated him that nobody had any speck of awareness regarding Sonic's absolute condition. Not a soul within the room had any idea that Sonic had been using heroin all this time, he thought, and that he was struggling with withdrawal. He said to himself that revealing a wound was the first step in mending it. 

But looking at the picture painted by the fox and the three hedgehogs, he deemed that maybe the actual moment couldn't be less opportune. 

"Amy's right, Tails! What matters is that we're all alive and well, lil brother," concluded Sonic in a soft tone.

The kitsune eventually moved away from the heartfelt embrace, brushing off the tears from his face with the back of his arm, still feeling untranquil. He looked intensely into Sonic's eyes and stuttered, grappling to recover from the extraordinary events of the day.

"R-right. O-okay. B-but Chaos is still rejecting you! Is your depression that bad!? Does it mean that-t you want to- kill-" Tails nearly burst into a deep sobbing once again while seeking to conclude his sentence, which the ebony hedgehog gladly interrupted with a caught.

"From my experience, Chaos does tend to latch to the subtilities of a mobian's identity. That does not necessarily mean that Sonic wants to commit suicide, Prower. I do believe, however, that consoling Sonic out of his predicament is not enough. The best approach, from my experience, is to start experimenting with Sonic's core identity. We could think of it as a 'restart' from his previous self, allowing Chaos to rebind to a blank slate. That is easier said than done." explained the ebony hedgehog. 

Sonic gasped for air when Shadow started speaking. He was on the verge of leaping at the ebony hedgehog should he speak regarding any aspect of his addiction.

"And how should we proceed, in your opinion? I don't understand how exactly does one experiment with one's identity," asked Silver.

"Well, we could start small. Let's begin by killing Sonic," explained Shadow.

Everyone gazed at him in disbelief with eyes wide, awaiting a further explanation from Shadow.

"Of course, I mean symbolically. We could start by giving Sonic a new name and acknowledging that his old self is gone and done," said Shadow. 

"How is that going to help, Shads?!" asked Sonic, fully incredulous and suspicious about Shadow's strange advice. Shadow refused to reply.

"Shadow! How can you say something so sad and so fun at the same time?!" asked Amy, a smirk of excitement breaking on her muzzle. 

"Is that enough, Shadow? Just calling Sonic by another name?" asked Tails.

"Obviously not, Prower. Sonic must get robustly acquainted more with his new self, but as I stated previously, we must take it step by step. In time, this will help Sonic identify with a more Chaos-bound hedgehog." Shadow illustrated further.

"I see! So let's call him TrueBlue or- I don't know! BlueStar! How's BlueStar?!" shouted Amy, excited. 

"W-what?" asked Sonic, confused.

"We could call him by his real name. We never call him by his real name, anyway. I mean, his name's-" The fox was abruptly interrupted by the strength of a hedgehog's hand blocking his muzzle. Sonic was struggling to stop the kitsune from uttering his real name as if his life depended on it. He choked his brother's sounds as if they were magical, ready to curse everyone who heard them.

"S-sonic? You have a- a birth name?!" asked Amy in wonder. "What the heck!? How do I not know about that?" she continued, emphasizing the pronoun "I" in her questions.

"That is a good proposal, Prower. His real name does hold personal significance and personal history, so it might be a good option to call him that, as authenticity is a criterion to any good profound transformation. We can call him Maurice from now on."

Sonic's eyes opened wide. He removed his hand from Tails and screeched from what he was hearing.

"What the fuck, Shadow?! How the fuck do you know?!" shouted Sonic.

"His name's... Maurice? That's an interesting name. Maurice how?" asked Amy, interested.

"Olgilvie Maurice," continued Shadow.

"What the fuck?! How the hell do you know that! He's lying! This whole situation is absurd!" pleaded Sonic.

"It is true. At GUN, we keep documents on any mobians of interest," the ebony hedgehog explained.

"Wow, you're truly a piece of-" Sonic was interrupted.

"Well, the Olgilvie part is a tad exotic and quite a mouthful, but like, Maurice is a pretty hot name, in my opinion." chuckled Amy.

"Yeah. Maurice is a pretty common name, too. Why do you hate it so much, Maurice?" asked Silver, turning to the blue hedgehog with interest. 

"Are we doing this? What the heck, guys? We're wasting our time with this while the world is burning! I mean, I just got up from near-death, and you make fun of me!" shouted Maurice, exasperatedly raising his hands above his head. 

"We're not, Son - I mean - Maurice! Shadow is a hedgehog designed for manipulating large sums of Chaos energy! He is well versed, and your issue is totally bad! It doesn't hurt trying, and it makes you feel better about who you are at the end of the day. Nobody should be ashamed of their real birth name! Please, Maurice, work with us! We need you back!" begged Amy.

Maurice's reaction to what was unfolding made his withdrawal symptoms worse. He felt his legs restless, ready to jump from their cross-legged interlaced positioning into the ceiling to bring the stupid conversation to a halt. Maurice desired to leave and punch a few windows and kick a few more walls down with the frustration he had bottled inside of him.

"And you think calling me that is gunna help me get back my ability to control Chaos? What a load of-" argued Maurice.

"Maybe if you become comfortable with it, in time, yes! Why don't you like it, anyway?" asked Silver with interest. 

Maurice sighed in defeat, letting out such a long breath as if he expelled the soul within it.

"Right. It's snobbish. It's not my personality. It's such a snobbish name." he explained.

"I think it's endearing, Maurice." responded Tails.

"Yup. Sounds good. I'm not kidding. It's a nice name. I mean, it's much more down to earth than Sonic. Maybe it will make you have lower expectations of yourself! Great demands from oneself hurt oneself." said Silver.

"I agree! It's a cute name!" concluded Amy.

"We hereby agree that Sonic died." closed Shadow.

"Well... that didn't sound too good, Shadow! But, I do agree with the name!" continued Amy.

"Is nobody going to ask me if I consent to this?!" pleaded Maurice.

"No," responded Amy dryly.

* * *

Shadow stood before a distorted three-dimensional ethereal image in miniature of the Metropolis city, with its deformed and ugly sky-scrappers and the grotesque machinery surrounding it. Their details would phase in and out of existence on Tails workbench, under Shadow's concentration and will power.

They were all hunched over the bench in the kitsune's makeshift workshop, staring at the city of light before them. It was a seizable hologram of the Metropolis city, created by Shadow's use of Chaos energy. Maurice hated it with much passion. To him, it was like looking at a cancerous tumor that took over a dear one's body. The medical analogy forming in his mind made him feel unwell. It deepened his misery.

He could gaze in detail at the intricate tubes going in and out of blocky malformed structures. Although there was no audible input from the hologram, he could imagine the screams of the cyborg slave mobians working against their will and with deep pain to raise further offending factories and machinery, as high as the sky would allow. 

He saw veins of green liquid rivers spreading in a complex web beneath the buildings, and he gagged. He wanted to vomit, right there. 

He turned his head around. 

Next to it lay the wheel replica, slightly burned but structurally undamaged, moving as Shadow pulled Chaos energy from it as well as he could. Both Tails' genius and the lively contraption impressed Shadow beyond words. He felt a stab of excitement and emotion in his stomach when thinking about all the possible use cases of his breakthrough invention.

"Wha!" exclaimed the kitsune. "That looks amazing!"

"It's called Chaos profiling. It allows a Chaos user to construct holograms of places. It is a very useful skill, allowing one to determine the possible vulnerabilities of a certain construction. Let's see..." explained Shadow.

"That means you can even see in people's homes!" exclaimed Silver.

"We need to devise a plan! Maybe there's some way to infiltrate it!" said Amy.

"Exactly. Gathering intel is the technique's best use. This technique of profiling is, of course, under the GUN's secrecy contract. I strongly advise you not to speak about what you see in this room." recommended Shadow while frowning in concentration, trying to keep the structure coherent and clear.

"Infiltrate it for what purpose? There's just a bunch of us now." interrupted Maurice. 

"I know, maybe the city has some internal tunnels or something like that," suggested Amy.

"Good idea, Amy. Maybe this way, we could get straight to the central tower." exclaimed Tails.

Shadow frowned, and the chaos hologram turned into a labyrinth of tunnels, revealing the city's subterranean view. The hologram was hazy and uncertain and finally vanished before his sight. 

"Damn it! We need more chaos energy for this kind of profiling. I apologize." said Shadow.  
  
"No worries, Shads! At least we know such a thing exists! Eggman will never expect such an attack." said Amy excited.

"Can I go now? Some fresh air wouldn't hurt!" said Maurice.

Everyone turned to him, troubled, with Tails being the most worried of them.

"Bro, you're gonna get into trouble again." spoke Tails.

"Tails, jus' cause' I met that idiot once doesn't mean it will happen again. Does everyone think I should stay locked in here, forever? What good will that do for me!?" raised his voice the blue hedgehog.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.

"I can come with you, Maurice," offered Silver.

Maurice shrugged. 

"Awlright, I'll let you babysit me if you think it's that necessary!" said Maurice as he raised his hands in the air.

* * *

They rambled within the dense streets of housing, reserved at first, Silver focused on Maurice's face, smickering beneath the protective mask, saying nothing. In time, the silence became rock heavy, pressing to Silver, like a physical thing.

"You're not wearing a gas-mask?" asked Silver, unable to torture himself with the silence anymore.

"Neah," responded Maurice with a dull and annoyed tone. 

"Why? We don't even know what the heck this air has in it. What if it gets you lung cancer?"

"Don't think so. Smells better than when Shadow smokes."

"He's a smoker!? Never seen him smoke!" responded Silver, a bit more lively and agitated than his conversation partner.

"Yup." Maurice confirmed.

They continued, dragging further through the labyrinth, marching farther blinded by their thoughts, sometimes going in circles, sometimes breaking patterns. Maurice walked for the sake of it alone, and Silver followed.

"Man, this turns more and more like a shithole the farther you get from home!" blurted out Maurice.

"Agreed. I guess it's because you're more unfamiliar with the zone, I think." stipulated Silver.

Silver caught a glimpse of Maurice's accidental display of his fangs in the corner of his eye and rolled his head altogether towards him. He regarded how spiked up and unfurled his arms and back were. He looked abnormally hefty, eager to get into a fight, knock someone down, sniffing stiffly, moving fumblingly.

"Yo, you sure you don't need a gas mask? You look like you're bound to choke or vomit," asked Silver.

"Neah, I'm good. It's not the air..." replied Maurice

"Then?"

"It's nuffing."

"Sonic - I mean, Maurice, sorry. Maurice. Amy and I know that there's s-something wrong going on with you. Look, I - When we healed you this morning -" sprang Silver to explain.

"I said it's nuffing, Silver, really!" interrupted Maurice, his tumult aggravating. 

"Listen, we know you've been taking a substance, not sure what, and that you're recovering from it! I am glad that-" Maurice gagged audibly and forced Silver into the nearest wall supporting a nearby house in the desolate streets. His darkness was overseeing the silver hedgehog as an outlandish military tower would some troops. Silver leaned back as Maurice grew closer to him, supported in a tensed knuckle stone-fixed into the wall. He stared into his bitter scowl. He thought that the blue hedgehog was going to eat him alive, skin to bone.

"What the fuck?! Who told you that?! Shadow?" screeched Maurice at the terrified masked Silver.

"N-no! Listen, hedgehog! When we healed you, we caught impressions of your memories! Just a few! It wasn't our fault, okay! Now, back off, buddy!" screamed back Silver, pulling himself together. He hated himself for giving in minutes earlier. He was startled by the sudden transformation. Who is Maurice, anyway? What right does he have to behave like that to him, who contributed to saving his life?

"And what did chu see?!" asked Maurice, milder this instance, still pouting, still pinning Silver.

"I said back off, then we can discuss as equals! Else, I'll back you off! Why the fuck do you behave like this to all of us?! All we do is be concerned about you, and you treat us like dog shit! We're your fucking friends, alright?!" yelled Silver, enraged more with himself than with Maurice.

Maurice ceased his strangling push and moved a few steps back. His glower turned into a more familiar questioning, curious look. He crossed his arms, expecting an explanation.

"We saw how Scourge tricked you, heard something you told him, about a bag, about a powder and how you were starving for it! Maurice, we knew you were lying this morning but didn't say anything..." said Silver.

"And why's that?"

"Tails was already crying badly. Besides, it's your memories and your brother! It's your business. We discussed with Amy before you woke up and decided we would not force you into the right choice! But we will not stop until you take the right one!" exclaimed Silver.

"By right choice, you mean telling Tails? He's gonna die, on the spot, forever, if I do! He's a kid! Silvy, understand that he already has enough-" said Maurice, his frown becoming pleading and repentant.

"By right choice, I mean getting through your drug addiction! Besides, Tails is 21, for fucks sake! He's not a child anymore! You're belittling a literal genius! He's going to support you, like we all will do, to get you through this! Regardless, we won't utter a word about this to anyone, but I - we won't let you touch that thing again! Anything, but not that thing!" interrupted Silver, spreading his arms to Maurice and taking his palms into his, breaking his cold, aggressive pose. He clasped them tightly, feeling their burn. He noticed their heat and realized Maurice might be feverish.

Maurice looked down in defeat.

"Damn, sorry. I overreacted. I know I've been horrible to ya. I'm struggling to be better! It's jus' so hard and lonely, sometimes. I don't want my bro to get hurt, especially for something shitty I've done. I wanted is to protect him-" Maurice was interrupted before giving into tears in front of Silver.

"It's okay! I can't imagine how bad the symptoms all since I was never an addict! I'm sorry, too, for speaking so harshly. You're a kind person, Maurice! You've always been so kind you forgot to be good to yourself, I think -" He stopped for a minute and realized he forgot to ask the most urgent question. "What was that anyway? What did you take?" asked Silver.

"Heroin," spoke Maurice, gravely.

They froze clenched, Silver staring at him and Maurice gazing down at their hands, ashamed to face him.

"Look, we're all here for you. But more importantly, now, I think we should go back. You seem to have a fever or something. You should rest until-"

Maurice crashed with an audible startling laugh.

"W-what the fuck? What's so funny? Sonic, uhh Mau- oh fuck this. Who came up with this idea?!" 

"Shadow!" exclaimed Sonic between his chortling.

"Fuck that, anyway. Look, I'm concerned! Are you hallucinating? Why are you laughing?! Oh, this is bad-" said Silver with urgency, spitting as he spoke.

"No, Silver - Ahaha! It's not the withdrawal! Calm down, I'm fine! Serious. I'm a bit feverish, but it's safe!" explained Maurice, removing his hands from his disconcerted and scared friend's.

"Then?!"

"Let's just sit somewhere and talk for a bit." requested Maurice, shooting a trademark friendly look.

* * *

They sat in quietness, settling on a set of stairs that were leading up to nowhere. There used to be an old monument of lead in honor of the fallen during the war against Infinite. Maurice recognized its lack of presence and wondered who removed it and why. 

Silver thought some tea peppermint tea would clear up the smell of copper emanating from God knows where. He considered that maybe abandoning his mask for a while wouldn't cause many problems. He took it off and placed it neatly on his lap, then scoured in the backpack for his thermos. Once found, he opened the black container and took a few sips from the warm liquid. The cold of the winter seemed more forgiving to Silver when his muzzle bathed into the tea's steams.

He thought that Amy should have infused it more. 

Being without the gas-mask meant that he could observe Maurice's figure in better detail. He gazed and saw that the blue hedgehog had a certain allure with him, which he was unable to articulate. Maurice sat hunched, his knees to his stomach, folded and embraced by his arms. His feet rested on a lower step of the stairs. He looked messy, helter-skelter, but not sick, giving off an air of being somewhat troubled and agitated but at the same time 'in the driver's set' not utterly lost, combative but not enraged. 

He gazed somewhere, in the distance.

After a few sips, Silver came closer to the blue hedgehog and raised his thermos to his muzzle, the warmth jolting him awake from his reverie. 

"Want some?" asked Silver.

"Sure, buddy. Thanks!" said Maurice as he took the thermos in both of his hands and took a few sips from the hot liquid. He appreciated the taste and the smell quietly but would have preferred the tea to be sweeter. Maurice didn't complain. Instead, he nodded and passed the thermos back to his friend.

They passed the thermos between each other, each taking a round of hot sips before passing it back. 

"So? Feverish anymore? Maybe you should take some aspirin. You may have a cold. I think I have some in my first-aid box." recommended Silver.

"Neah, It's not that either. I'm feverish cause' I'm in heat, Silver." spoke Maurice, looking down at the thermos, loosening in its fumes.

Silver looked deadpan at Maurice, letting out a strange "Uhm" breathy interjection. The silver hedgehog calmed himself down but then realized the contents of Maurice's sentences and became slightly flustered. He recognized he had never spoken about such private matters with the blue hedgehog, not that he generally minded doing so, but it was unchartered territory. 

"You mean - You're horny?" asked Silver bluntly.

"Yeah. A lot. Since I'm not taking any of that stuff anymore, my drive is back. T'used to be much less on it. I stopped being used to - eh, ya know - urges." explained Maurice.

"Well, at least, that's a healthy thing! I think - I don't get actual fevers when I'm in heat. I thought only wolves do that!" exclaimed Silver, with curiosity.

"I do, so maybe I'm a mix!" chuckled Maurice, happy that Silver did not seem extremely fazed or uncomfortable about the whole conversation. 

"You don't look like a mix! Hey, you sure it's just that?" asked Silver.

Maurice nodded. They both laughed audibly and kept passing each other the thermos of tea until the liquid steadily halved in the canister, its vapors beginning to lose strength. 

"Maybe you should talk to Shadow. He's good with the medical stuff. Maybe he can check if it's just that or something else?" recommended Silver, still incredulous that Maurice's fever was the effect of a simple heat.

"Uff, you have no idea how badly I want that hedgehog to give me a rough checkup!" said Maurice, winking and smirking. 

"W-What? Do you have a thing for him? I could have sworn you had a thing for guys, but Shadow?!" asked Silver, giggling and staring curiously.

"What do you mean you could have sworn?!" asked Maurice.

"Well, I mean, you always seem to look at guys more interested than at girls. You check them and all." explained Silver, grinning.

"I do? I- I never noticed that!" exclaimed Maurice with a surprised expression, finishing off the small amount of tea in the canister, gulping it in one take.

"Why don't ya tell Shads? I mean, if he refuses, what do you have to lose? You two don't strike me as very close friends, anyway." asked Silver seriously.

"We had..." Maurice stopped. He looked into the empty canister for a whole minute, interrupting the pace of the conversation altogether.

"It's okay if you want to keep it personal!" said Silver, slightly upset, with his palms displayed in defense, "I apologize if-"

"No! No, it's okay! The thing is, Silver - Shadow and I had a bit of a fling and then a huge fight. I don't think he wants to speak to me after what happened between us." explained Maurice, interrupting his apology.

"You mean you two have already done it?! Then broke up?! Did he ghost you? He looks like the type that ghosts mobians cause he has that smug - too cool for you - attitude about him!" explained Silver, perplexed and curious, eyes large and burning to find out more. In that instant, he realized he enjoyed gossip a bit too much for his personal well-being.

"I-it wasn't ghosting! We fought over my drug addiction - I said some things that I shouldn't have - to him. I regret them - badly." spoke Maurice, stammering, staring down, saddened.

"Ah, I see. You want to make up with Shads?" asked Silver, not letting Maurice's sudden mood turn to bring down the joyous pace of the conversation.

"Badly, Silver." 

"Then, you want me to speak to Shads on your behalf!? Maybe it will ease things out, make him think about it in the meantime. If he's so mad at you, maybe he'll be nicer to me, instead!" proposed Silver, inspired.

"Y-you'd do that?" asked Maurice as he raised his eyes from his knees into his friend's expression of excitement.

"Heck, of course, yea!" shouted Silver.

"Thanks, buddy!" jumped Maurice to Silver's throat, hugging him. Startled,   
Silver fell on the stairs under Maurice's heaviness. Silver reciprocated and put his hands around the hedgehog, wrapping him.

"No problem! Anything you need, friend! Your mood is so much better! Hey, do you want to race home? See who beats who?!"

"Sure!" agreed Maurice.

And so they did.


End file.
